Watch a Salute to Alberta Agriculture #LongLoveThisLand

Mar 05, 2018

ATB Financial Pays Tribute to Alberta Farmers with Special Video

‘Long Love This Land’ is the title of a new video produced by ATB Financial, a financial institution and crown corporation owned by the province of Alberta since 1938, to honor the hard-working men and women who shape the face of the province’s thriving agriculture sector.

The video showcases the diversity of the agri-food industry in the province, along with stunning imagery and a great soundtrack. Not only does the video show us the faces and places that make it all happen, it also provides some key facts about Alberta’s ag industry (stats from 2016):

Alberta has over 50 million acres of farmland (34% of the land in the entire province)
71% of Canada’s irrigated land
73,000 Albertans are employed in the agri-food business
Around 31% of farm operators in Alberta are women (the second highest proportion in Canada)
$10 billion in Alberta agri-food exports
$6.6 billion in real domestic product
$1.7 billion in beef and $623 million in live cattle
108,460 bison in the province (just over half of all bison in Canada)
45% of Canada’s honey production – worth $93 million annually
15,000 tonnes of vegetables grown annually
30% of all the canola planting in Canada (worth $21.4 billion in exports)
Alberta is the only province in Canada to produce sugar from sugar beets
11,000 tonnes of refined sugar exported to the U.S.A.
In 2016, Alberta exported over half of all the malt produced in Canada, and 1,919,528 metric tonnes of barley – enough to make 26 to 40 million bottles of beer!
Alberta has 58 breweries – a number that’s growing fast
1.6 million tonnes of Durum wheat
There are 141 family-run potato farms in Alberta, employing over 2,000 people
Over 1 million acres of lentils are farmed in Alberta

With 70% of consumers saying their food purchase decisions are affected by how food is grown or raised, it’s surprising to learn that over 90% of those consumers say they know little about our farming and ranching practices. Well, this video should help with that!

Video: U.S.-China Trade “Truce” + U.S. Fed Cuts Rates Again

The market was hoping for a US-China trade deal, but we got a trade “truce” for now from the keenly awaited Trump-Xi meeting at the APEC Summit.
China commits to minimum purchase commitments of 12 MMT of U.S. soybeans during the “current season” and a minimum of 25 MMT annually through 2028.
U.S. Treasury Sec Bessent said other Asian countries have agreed to buy additional 19 MMT of US soybean.
Soybean futures trading above $11 now- they normally tend to rally to $12.
As expected, US Fed cuts interest rates by -0.25% again in October to 3.75%–4.00%. No further cuts promised for this year but trade looking out to the Dec FOMC.
The Bank of Canada cut interest rates to 2.25% but raised concern over trade war damage.
Soy meal futures, remarkably, have had 14 consecutive higher close sessions. A bull market in soybeans is a bull market in soy meal!
Cattle futures lower as funds unwind out of cattle for now due to Trump headlines and objective to lower beef prices.
All major stock indices climb to new record highs. It was Mag 7 reporting week, which had mixed results. But we now have the first $5 trillion company in Nvidia!