CN Notes Prairie Grains Moving Smoothly to Port

Apr 06, 2020

Even with some of the challenges throughout the winter, one of Canada's national railways, CN, stated this week that grain is moving smoothly to the ports for export this spring.

The railway was affected by an 8 day strike in November and illegal blockades in February. Executive Vice President of CN Rail, Shawn Finn notes that in the last two weeks CN has spotted very high number of cars. In the winter, they target to spot 4,150 cars a week. Last week they spotted 7,160 cars and this past week 6,900 cars. Overall they are ahead of last years numbers in car spotting, metric tonnes moved in the past week, but are behind last years numbers in metric tonnes moved in the year, mainly due to the blockades in February.

The railway hit an all-time record in grain moved in March, which was 2.62 million tonnes, a 6.1 percent increase from 2017, the previous record for March.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.