U.S. Justice Department Approves Bayer-Monsanto Deal

Bayer shares surged Tuesday following a report that the U.S. Justice Department has given its blessing on a deal to acquire Monsanto.

Bayer has agreed to sell additional seed and treatment assets to BASF and will make concessions related to digital agriculture.

Shares of Monsanto soared near a four-year high on Monday.

Bayer's takeover of Monsanto would create a company that would own more than 25 per cent of the globe's seed and pesticides market.

The deal, valued at more than $60 billion, is expected to close in the second quarter.

 

Barlow in Guatemala Touring Canadian Foodgrains Bank Projects

Foothills MP and Associate Ag Critic, John Barlow, is in Guatemala until Friday touring the works of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

Barlow says, the Foodgrains Bank not only feeds people, but provides them with the knowledge and skills to develop agricultural parcels to sustainably grow their own crops.

He says, the Canadian Government has a history of global leadership in supporting food producers around the world.

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Before You Wing Up, Measure Up

That's the message from FortisAlberta, reminding producers to know the height of their equipment when moving it around power lines this spring.

Corporate Communications Advisor with Fortis, Mona Bartsoff, says the height of farm equipment has doubled since the 1950's.

Last year, they recorded seven contacts made by air seeders with overhead powerlines, 15 contacts made by tractors, and 11 contacts made by grain augers.

 

USDA  Releases April WASDE Report

The USDA released its April World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) Report on Tuesday.

The big change, according to Dan Basse of Ag Resource Company, was the USDA dropping their estimate of the Argentinean soybean crop to 40 million metric tons.

Argentine corn production also dropped to 33 million metric tons.

Basse notes the USDA did raise their feed residual numbers on wheat, which provided a larger end stock total in the U.S. approaching 1.1 billion bushels.

The USDA lowered U.S. corn feed and residual use by 50 million bushels, which led to an increase in corn ending stocks for an estimate of 2.182 billion bushels.

 

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