The Rural Voice, 1999-09, Page 78Book Review
impossible to find out if genetically
modified foods are harmful to
humans.
Kneen calls into question the
impartiality of CFIA which also has
responsibility for the Biotechnology
Strategies and Co-ordination Office,
Agriculture and Agrifood Canada's
office for the promotion of
biotechnology.
Kneen can see a plot behind every
move of every politician and
businessman, yet he raises questions
that need to be answered. Every
supporter of biotech, every MP and
MPP, and every university researcher
should read the book and make sure
they have the answers to the
questions he poses before we commit
ourselves further on the biotech
speedway.0
Farmageddon: Food and the Culture_
of Biotechnology, Brewster Kneen,
New Society Publishers. $19.95
alw
DeMuth
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Neustadt, Ontario 519-799-5366
74 THE RURAL VOICE
Grain Markets
Volatility's the name
of the game
By Dave Gordon
Volatility has been the name of the
game in grain markets over the past 30
days. Com futures rose 50 cents off the
lows of July 13 while soybean gained
about $1 from July 9. But prices have
already lost about 50 per cent of these
gains due mainly to the USDA
production report of August 12 which
was anything but friendly to prices. In
fact, their corn figure was higher than
any of the pre -report estimates.
Since the USDA report and after
this article is being written, ProFarmer
is touring the Midwest conducting its
own survey. Typically; this group
comes in lower than final production
numbers, but we are wondering if they
will be closer to the USDA figures than
originally thought by many traders.
One interesting point to note is the
fact that wheat prices are taking a cue
from corn and soybean prices. Earlier
this year, I was of the opinion that
wheat prices would have to move
higher before corn would start to move
and maybe this will still happen in the
coming months.
CORN
The USDA shocked the trade with a
projected production of 9.561 billion
bushels well above the high end of the
pre -report guesses. The market had
already softened prior to the report with
easing weather fears only to be
slammed the day of the report.
However, it came to Tight that the
USDA did only a stock count in their
survey and did no kernel count: and as
a result markets stabilized from the
thought that USDA was indeed high
with the estimate.
Basis levels in Ontario are softening
slightly given the fact that the Canadian
dollar is dropping. There still seems to
be lots of old crop corn in Ontario and
as well, plenty of corn is available in
Michigan which is trickling into