Feb. 5 - Closing Markets

(Click arrow to play OCA report)

-> ONTARIO PORK REPORTS:
TOTAL SALES FOR THE WEEK = 95,659
THAT'S down 5,666 FROM THE PREVIOUS WEEK.
INCLUDED WERE 82,367 CONTRACT HOGS
AND 6,153 EXPORTS.
THE ONTARIO POOL PRICE = $126.90 PER 100 KILOGRAMS
THE ONTARIO POOL PLUS PRICE = $129.56 PER 100 KILOGRAMS
FRIDAY'S PRELIMINARY U-S NATIONAL COST PRICE = $65.95
THAT'S down 1 cent
FRIDAY'S OPENING FORWARD CONTRACT PRICE FOR May-June DELIVERY = $148.24
THAT'S down 11 cents FROM THURSDAY.

-> CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE:

CORN FUTURES:
March down 2 and a half at 3.51 and a half
May down 2 and a quarter at 3.63

SOYBEAN FUTURES:
March down a half at 9.13 and a half
May down a half at 9.24 and a quarter

WHEAT FUTURES:
March down 2 and a half at 4.73 and a quarter
May down 2 at 4.88

-> CLOSING LOCAL GRAIN PRICES FROM SNOBELIN FARMS:

2009 CROP CORN = down 2 at 3.42/BU
2010 CROP CORN = down 3 at 3.82/BU
2011 CROP CORN = down 2 at 4.00/BU

2009 CROP SOYS = up 5 at 9.34/BU
2010 CROP SOYS = down 1 at 8.84/BU
2011 CROP SOYS = down 7 at 8.71/BU

2009 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = up 7 at 3.98/BU
2010 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = up 4 at 4.26/BU
2011 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = up 3 at 5.05/BU

Drug Bust in Fergus

A substantial drug bust in Fergus this week.
Wellington OPP executed a search warrant at a residence and seized marihuana plants, processed marihuana, grow equipment and currency.
The drugs have an estimated street value of 15 thousand dollars.
31 year old Kevin Esau and 21 year old Healther O'Donnell of Fergus have been charged with production of cannibis marihuana and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
They will appear in court March 1st.

Library Growth In Bruce County

Libraries are used more during times of economic uncertainty.
That coming from Bruce County Library Director Marzio Appoloni.
He says that borrowing from county libraries was up 9 per cent in 2009, tripling 2008's growth.
While many branches saw borrowing growth in excess of 20 per cent, the Tara branch in particular saw 43 per cent growth in 2009.
Libraries county-wide had over 220 thousand in person visits in 2009, an increase of 24 per cent compared to 2008.

ARC Narrows It Down to Three Options

Members of the Bluewater - South Huron accommodation review committee are now focusing on three specific options for their school community.
Arc chair Mike Ash says the committee members have put aside staff recommendations and are looking at three options generated by the committee members.
Those options include closing the Exeter Public School and creating of a K to twelve school on the site of the South Huron District High School.
The second option would close the Usborne, Stephen and Exeter public schools and the South Huron High School and build a new K to 12 school on a new site.
And a variation on that would close the same three public schools and build a new K to 8 school on a different site.
Ash says one obstacle with all of those options is that they all require capital funding and there isn't much available at this time.
Ash says their understanding from the ministry is that the criteria for accessing any capital funding would have to include the closing of at least three schools, it would have to create a new school of at least 500 students and it would have to make use of access capacity in the school community.

Schedule for Friday, February 5th

National Hockey League
Toronto at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Atlanta at Washington, 7 p.m.
Carolina at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Phoenix at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

Ontario Hockey League
Owen Sound at Sarnia, 7:30 p.m.
Windsor at Erie, 7 p.m.
Oshawa at Kitchener, 7:30 p.m.
Plymouth at London, 7:30 p.m.
Guelph at Kingston, 7:30 p.m.
Belleville at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Sault Ste. Marie at Sudbury, 7:30 p.m.
Saginaw at Mississauga, 7:30 p.m.

Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League
Midwest
Waterloo at Listowel, 7:30 p.m.
Elmira at Stratford, 7:30 p.m.
West
Strathroy at St. Marys, 7:45 p.m.

Western Junior C
Mount Forest at Wingham, 8 p.m.
Goderich at Kincardine, 8:30 p.m.
Mitchell at Walkerton, 8:30 p.m.

Junior D
Delhi at Exeter, 8:30 p.m.

WOAA Senior Hockey
Best of 5 Qualifying Best of 5
North
Shallow Lake at Elora, 8:30 p.m.
(Elora leads 2-0)
Lucknow at Saugeen Shores, 8:30 p.m.
(Lucknow leads 2-0)
Durham at Ripley, 8:30 p.m.
(Series tied at 1)
Shelburne at Palmerston, 8:30 p.m.
(Shelburne leads 1-0)
South
Milverton at Petrolia, 8 p.m.
(Series tied at 1)
Tavistock at Monkton, 8:30 p.m.
(Monkton leads 2-0)

National Basketball Association
Detroit at Indiana, 7 p.m.
Washington at Orlando, 7 p.m.
New Jersey at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Milwaukee at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Houston at Memphis, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at New Orleans, 8 p.m.
Chicago at Atlanta, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Phoenix at Sacramento, 10 p.m.
Denver at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m.

National Lacrosse League
Philadelphia at Toronto 7:30 p.m.
Orlando at Colorado 9 p.m.
Edmonton at Calgary 9:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Washington 11:00 p.m.

Dundalk Man Sentenced to Life

A Dundalk man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder.
The body of 79-year old Leonard Perrault was found in his Dundalk apartment back in November of 2008.
An autopsy concluded he died of blunt force trauma.
Derek Gauvin, who was 18 at the time, plead guilty to second degree murder this week.
He will have no chance of parole for ten years.
The motivation behind the attack never came out in court.

Mildmay Native Photo Could Go Yellow

A university student from Mildmay is in the finals of a contest to determine what the front cover of the yellow pages book will look like.
Luke Albert is currently attending the University of Toronto and he's in the 12 picture final with a shot of the grotto near Tobermory.
It's been something he's been anticipating since last summer.

(Click arrow for audio or right click to download)

You can see Luke Albert's picture of the grotto on the Bruce Peninsula here.
His picture is currently in second place.
Voting ends February 28th.

Local Unemployment Rate On Rise

The local jobless rate rose last month.

It went from 6.9 per cent in December to 7.4 in January.

Ontario's unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.2 per cent.

The national jobless rate actually dipped slightly from 8.4 per cent in December to 8.3 last month.

Stats Canada reports 43 thousand new part-time jobs were created.

Pork Producers Told They Need Consumer Help

Hog farmers are urging consumers to let retailers know they want to buy pork from domestic producers.
Stiff competition from the U-S hog industry contributed to a disastrous year for Canadian producers in 2009.
Anita Ivanauskas is a strategic marketing consultant with Ontario Pork.
She says their labelling programs can help consumers identify Canadian and Ontario-grown product - but shoppers have to help create the demand for domestic pork.

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She says raising smaller hogs and enhancing product quality would make their meat more attractive to processors and retailers - and bring a premium price as well.

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Grey Bruce Pork Producers Association chair Bob Reid says he agrees there's room for growth in pork consumption in Ontario.

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Ivanauskas was the guest speaker at this week's Grey Bruce Pork Producers annual meeting in Walkerton.

Perth Beef Producers President: Industry Is Broken

The new President of the Perth County Beef Producers Association says the industry is broken.
Murray Brodhagen says immediate government assistance is needed because Ontario's beef industry is in serious jeopardy...

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He adds the retailers seem to have too much power so there needs to be marketing changes or Perth County beef producers and there counterparts across the Province will continue to get paid very little for their product.

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Brodhagen says he is not a big supporter of government subsidies but something has to be done or the beef industry will be lost.
He says the "One Voice" for agriculture approach is a step in the right direction...

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The new President of the Perth County Beef Producers
Association has been involved with the organization for about 8 years and served as Vice-President before moving up to his current role.

CFIB's Ag Members Push For Re-Shaped Agri-Stability

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says programs like AgriStability can be reshaped to help revitalize confidence in the agriculture sector.
The Federation says it's most recent Agriculture Business Barometer has confidence in the sector was at 54 point 5 per cent.
That's behind the national index of 66 point 9.
The CFIB sent an open letter to the federal and provincial agriculture ministers with some suggestions for discussions at today's (Feb. 5th) fed-prov ag ministers meeting in Toronto.
The letter argues that ministers have been reviewing business risk management programs since July of 2008 and it's time for action.
The federation says while farmers would prefer to get their income from the marketplace, when needed the programs have to be transparent, accessible, predictable and timely.

Potato Growers Extend Deal With Bayer CropScience

The United Potato Growers of Canada has renewed it's deal with Bayer CropScience.
Bayer has been supporting the UPGC's seminars and some of it's other projects.
Those projects include the creation of databases and educational seminars that provide timely information to producers across the country.
The United Potato Growers of Canada represents 98 per cent of this country's potato industry.
It was formed in 2006 by the provincial potato boards in Canada.

New California Ethanol Rules Worry Industry

There's concern in the U-S ethanol industry over new regulations coming into effect in California.
The regulations include a greenhouse gas emissions penalty for what's called international indirect land use change.
That's based on the theory that expanding U-S corn acres to feed the ethanol industry leads to land-use changes in other countries.
That means corn-based ethanol from the Midwest, for instance, will be considered by California to be a much higher-carbon fuel than the same fuel produced either within California or from sugar cane in Brazil.
One ethanol industry spokesman - Tom Buis of Growth Energy - says that could end up shutting out the corn ethanol market in California.
And there are worries other American states may adopt similar regulations.
On the other side industry observers suggest the regulations could end up re-starting corn-based plants that are now sitting idle in California.

CFFO: Traceability Way To Build Consumer Trust

A recent OMAFRA forum suggested that the whole traceability movement will be a key to maintaining trust with consumers in the ever-evolving information era.
The Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario's Nathan Stevens says the forum included a panel of producers and processors who agreed traceability could be an opportunity for the industry.

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He says the forum panel suggested the issue of food safety and the level of reassurance that processors, retailers and consumers are demanding isn't going to diminish anytime soon.

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Stevens says the forum presented a lot of compelling arguments that traceability will be a key to future market share for Ontario farmers.

(Click arrow to play full CFFO commentary)

Crowded Wind Meeting in West Grey

A crowd of about 400 people greeted wind farm developers at an information meeting in West Grey last night.
Nextera Energy hopes to erect up to 12 wind turbines in an area east of Durham in Glenelg Township.
People in West Grey worry about possible adverse health effects, a decline in property values and consider the turbines an eyesore.
Joan Rawsky sums up people's opinion of Nextera.

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Nextera spokesperson Steve Stengel says they'll proceed with the project despite the opposition.
However he says there are still environmental studies to be done to ensure they've chosen the right location.
Last month West Grey council passed a motion calling for a moratorium on wind turbine projects until further studies are done on their effects on health and property values.