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Flooding kills canola as prices set to rise

By Jen Skerritt, Bloomberg News

July 9, 2014 - Blake Duchek's farm near Esterhazy was pummeled with as much as 11 inches (280 mm) of rain in the span of three days last month, killing crops that were sitting in several inches to a foot of water. He estimates the losses will cost him more than $500,000.

"It's a total writeoff," said Duchek, a 33-year-old farmer, who estimates he's lost as much as 35 per cent of his 5,500 canola and wheat acres. "It's a big financial loss."

Widespread flooding after record rainfall is reversing expectations for a bigger crop in Canada, the world's largest canola grower, after the government said last month that planting would increase 1.5 per cent to 20.2 million acres. Sowings could miss that forecast by as much as 11 per cent and output may tumble as much as 10 per cent from last year's all-time high of 18 million tonnes, according to Errol Anderson, president of Pro-Market Wire, a grains newsletter in Calgary.

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July 9, 2014  By Regina Leader-Post


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