By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday November 2, 2023

Nov 2, 2023 | 9:31 AM

Nutrien Ltd. said it earned $82 million US in the third quarter, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier.

The Saskatoon-based company, which is the world’s largest fertilizer producer, said sales were $5.6 billion, down 31 per cent from 8.2 billion.

Nutrien attributed its lower earnings mainly to lower net realized selling prices, as well as lower retail earnings.

The company said in its Wednesday release that its earnings were significantly affected by fertilizer benchmark prices, which have been volatile over the last two years.

President and CEO Ken Seitz said the company delivered record potash sales volumes in the third quarter, and the company is encouraged by the increased level of demand and market stability in the second half of the year.

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The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council said labour shortages cost the agriculture sector $3.5 billion in sales in 2022.

Research by the Conference Board of Canada on behalf of the council found the sector had a vacancy rate of 7.4 per cent.

The council added the agriculture sector employed more than 420,000 workers in 2022, and almost a quarter of them were foreign workers.

Jennifer Wright, executive director of the council, said there’s an urgent need to boost the labour supply in Canadian agriculture and this new data on the labour market is important so the industry can tackle these challenges.

The data is part of a longer-term initiative to update its labour forecasting system and support its national workforce strategic plan.

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Maple Leaf Foods reported a loss of $4.3 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $229.5 million a year earlier when the company took a large one-time, non-cash impairment charge related to its plant protein business.

The company said the loss amounted to four cents per share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of $1.86 per share in the same quarter last year.

Sales in the company’s third quarter totalled $1.25 billion, up from $1.23 billion a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf said it earned 13 cents per share for the quarter compared with an adjusted loss of a penny per share a year ago.

In its outlook, Maple Leaf said its capital expenditures for 2023 are expected to be about $200 million, down from its earlier guidance of less than $250 million.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW