(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday November 6, 2019

Nov 6, 2019 | 9:47 AM

A spokesperson with the Chinese foreign ministry has urged the new federal government to release a Huawei executive detained since December.

Reuters is reporting Geng Shuang made the comment at a regular press briefing.

China and Canada have been at odds since the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. Earlier this year China stopped purchasing Canadian canola seed.

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Nutrien Limited said global demand for fertilizer is weaker than anticipated.

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This is due to poor weather in North America and offshore buyers that have chosen to draw down their inventories.

As a result, the Saskatoon-based company lowered key estimates for 2019, including a further reduction on potash sales volume following an earlier downward revision issued in September.

Nutrien’s potash sales for this year are now estimated at between 11.6 million and 12 million tonnes, down 300,000 tonnes from September and one million tonnes lower than its estimate in July.

Despite the weakness in the fertilizer industry, Nutrien said it expects demand will pick up in 2020 as crop prices improve and fertilizer inventories are depleted in the fourth quarter and early next year.

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Viterra and Canadian Foodgrains Bank celebrated their annual partnership which saw over 250 acres seeded earlier this year to benefit hungry people around the world.

This year, acres from Viterra terminals in Raymore and Grenfell, as well as terminals in the Albertan towns of Trochu, Lethbridge and Stettler, were made available.

Local farmers volunteered their time, equipment and resources to farm the land.

In addition to providing the land, Viterra also donated $5 for each tonne of crops donated to the organization through one of its 69 grain elevators in Western Canada.

This is the third year that Viterra and the Foodgrains Bank have partnered on this project.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF