U.S. president Donald Trump.

Prairie farmers must prepare for a protracted economic battle

The natural reaction is to strike back against American tariffs with tariffs of our own, but it’s like kicking the sandbox bully in the shins while he has you in a chokehold. What’s to stop president Donald Trump from ratcheting up American tariffs even further? Not much, except that when a tariff becomes prohibitive, it […] Read more

A close-up photo of the ripe heads of wheat with a blurry green combine in the background.

Feds expect more wheat, less canola this year

Wheat acreage will increase this year while canola acreage will drop — at least, that’s the prediction in the January Outlook for Principal Field Crops report from the Market Analysis Group at Agriculture Canada. The Agriculture Canada analysis has very little good news when it comes to 2025-26 price projections. Wheat and flaxseed are about […] Read more

A man's hand is holding a squashed tomato with juice and seeds all over his hand and wrist.

U.S. tariff squeeze promises to be a messy affair

Imagine squeezing a ripe tomato in the palm of your hand. Some juice squirts out. More juice runs down your arm with the tomato looking very different from when you started. This is being written just ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration and threatened tariffs, but if he follows through on his threats, business will […] Read more


Screencap of the cover of the 2025 Saskatchewan Agriculture Crop Planning guide, featurng a close-up of a lone canola plant.

The good, bad and ugly of 2025 cropping options

Only a select few cropping options are showing a profit over and above total costs in Saskatchewan Agriculture’s 2025 Crop Planning Guide. The guide is available online. Printed versions were to be available at the Crop Production Show this week in Saskatoon and can also be picked up at regional Saskatchewan Agriculture offices. It uses […] Read more

In the Manitoba analysis, all 16 crops show a return over operating costs, but only pinto beans show a return over total costs. | Screencap via manitoba.ca

Most cropping options fail to cover total costs

Manitoba Agriculture has released its 2025 cost of production analysis for crops, and as one would expect, the picture isn’t rosy. Saskatchewan Agriculture is expected to release its 2025 Crop Planning Guide shortly, and it will similarly show limited profit potential. In the Manitoba analysis, all 16 crops show a return over operating costs, but […] Read more


Beware the whacky, off-the-wall products and procedures with sales pitches based on farmer testimonials rather than replicated multi-site, multi-year research trials. Be particularly wary if endorsement is lacking from trusted agronomists. | Getty Images

Approach miracle product pitches with caution

It seems everywhere you turn, some miracle product is going to cure whatever ails your soil and crops. It’s more difficult than ever to know what works and what isn’t worth the money. Got salinity? Miracle products can now return that land to productivity. At least, those are the claims, even though the official agronomic […] Read more

The 40,000 farmland transactions each year in the province are a lot to monitor, but laws aren’t of much use if they have loopholes and aren’t being upheld. | Getty Images

Farm Land Security Board needs to do better

Saskatchewan’s provincial auditor has identified a number of shortcomings in how the Farm Land Security Board regulates the purchase of farmland by foreign, non-eligible entities. Unfortunately, rather than embracing the auditor’s recommendations, the newly re-elected Saskatchewan Party government seems oblivious to the concerns. Related story in this issue: Let’s start with a bit of history. […] Read more

If you aren’t dealing with a licensed buyer, you don’t have payment protection. | Getty Images

Agfinity leaves wide swath of unpaid farmers

In early October, I wrote a column about a grain broker in a financial squeeze leaving an undetermined number of producers unpaid for grain deliveries made many months earlier. At the time, I didn’t name the broker as being Agfinity because the owner, Joseph Billett, seemed sincere in his efforts to work his way out […] Read more


Grain market analysis used to focus on supply, demand and stocks-to-use ratios. These days you need a crystal ball on international policy and trading relations. | Getty Images

Check out your geopolitical crystal ball

Over the next few months, a host of international actions could have unpleasant repercussions for Canadian agriculture. Seldom, if ever, have so many different threats come from outside our borders. China is investigating Canadian canola for dumping, a response to the 100 per cent duty the U.S. and Canada placed on Chinese electric vehicles. Perhaps […] Read more

The picture is decidedly bleak for 2025. Many prices are down and contract price options are either unavailable or unattractive. | File photo

Sure-profit cropping options hard to find

The years of no-brainer cropping options appear to have ended, at least for now. The growing season ahead doesn’t offer the certain profits of previous times. Weather and markets are unpredictable, but in recent years you could contract a profitable price on many crops and with correspondingly high crop insurance prices, you could go a […] Read more