Non-Traditional Factors Impacting Grain Markets

Mar 20, 2020

There are a number of non-traditional factors at play in the grain markets which is causing a lot of volatility for the agriculture sector.

Jon Driedger, vice-president of LeftField Commodity Research, says external influences have an enormous impact like the coronavirus and its impact, and of course the ongoing trade challenges globally.

"It doesn't mean that the world will just stop trading tomorrow but certainly there's less of an appetite towards more free open trade and more of a tendency towards putting on tariffs, protecting the domestic markets and so forth," he said. "Agriculture is an exporting industry, particularly for us in western Canada, so certainly we feel that."

Canada has a number of ongoing challenges including the dispute with China over canola and with India over pulses.

He notes it’s a larger global trend with Brexit or the trade war between the U.S. and China.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.