Don’t delay – sign up before September 10 for ‘early bird’ discount for Midwest Shippers/Soyatech conferences (09/03/2010) Don’t delay. The extended deadline for early bird discount for the upcoming combined Midwest Shippers Association’s Midwest Specialty Grains Conference & Trade Show, and Soyatech’s 2010 Soya & Oilseed Summit and the 2010 Global Soybean & Grain Transport conferences is coming up fast. The discount registration is available until September 10. And if you are a member or want to join the Midwest Shippers Association, you can benefit from a further special discount for this major industry event.

Monsanto cuts more jobs as Roundup sales declines; Arkansas Attorney General launches RR2 marketing inquiry (09/03/2010) The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on September 1 that Monsanto is slashing hundreds of jobs for a third time in 14 months as it cuts back its Roundup weed killer business in response to declining sales. This week also brought news that Arkansas’s attorney general has launched an inquiry into Monsanto’s marketing practices for its Roundup Ready 2 lines of products.

Active container fleet grows by 19 percent (09/03/2010) The active container ship fleet added 2.4 million 20-foot equivalent units since the beginning of the year, putting downward pressure on ocean freight rates, according to a leading industry analyst the Journal of Commerce reports. One concern for a sustained recovery of international shipping has been what several industry experts say is a global shortage of containers.

Alliance Grain Traders, Canadian multi-national pulse company, expands into South Australia with planned acquisition of Balco Grain facility located near inland container terminal (09/03/2010) Alliance Grain Traders announce this week it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Australia’s Balco Grain and property from Balco Holdings, located at Bowmans, South Australia. Alliance is a Canadian multi-national pulse industry company and exporter, which also has holdings in North Dakota.

Duluth-Superior ports’ shipping boosted by world grain shortage (09/03/2010) These days, dozens of foreign ships are paying an extra visit to the bulk shipping Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. What many are loading is spring wheat and feed barley. The reason: Russian, Canadian, and European grain markets have all suffered poor growing and harvesting seasons, according to the Duluth Port Authority.

CN gearing up for fall grain harvest (09/03/2010) The Canadian grain harvest is underway and CN is ready to meet the demand, the rail company said on Sept. 1. Earlier this year, CN introduced a plan that dramatically increased the reliability of its grain service.

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