Agriculture

Opinion

CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Canadian farm crop insurance programs have a participation rate of 75 per cent or higher.

Balancing act of farm risk-management programs

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, May. 16, 2026

It’s a long-standing and generally accepted principle of Canadian agricultural policy that farmers need taxpayers’ help countering the unpredictable and wildly fluctuating risks of their operating environment.

Farmers have some measure of control over production choices. Their management can increase yields and reduce reliance on expensive production aids such as fertilizer or pesticides. They can also build an allowance for the unexpected into their game plan, such as seeking off-farm income.

But that can only go so far.

Farmers can’t plan for weather, climate, twists and turns in crop prices, the effect of external forces such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tantrums or becoming collateral damage in Canadian diplomatic spats with China.

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Agriculture

FILES Soybeans do not require much nitrogen fertilizer.

Fertilizer, diesel costs beset farmers

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

Fertilizer, diesel costs beset farmers

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Friday, May. 15, 2026

Soybeans are on Jason Rempel’s radar.

The Manitoba farmer has dodged rising nitrogen fertilizer prices — he pre-bought last fall — but if costs continue to climb, he’ll be seeking more soybeans for 2027.

The crop doesn’t require much nitrogen fertilizer, unlike the wheat and corn Rempel is currently spreading across his land near Landmark.

Nitrogen fertilizer prices have jumped 30 to 40 per cent in Western Canada since the United States and Israel attacked Iran earlier this year, according to Farm Credit Canada. Around one-third of global seaborne fertilizer ships through the now-blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

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Friday, May. 15, 2026

Opinion

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Saskatchewan-based Monette Farms owns and leases more than 400,000 acres of farmland spread across western North America.

Farm giant’s debt woes everyone’s problem

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Farm giant’s debt woes everyone’s problem

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Friday, May. 8, 2026

Rumours had been circulating the virtual coffee shops for months, so news this spring that Saskatchewan-based Monette Farms had sought protection from its creditors wasn’t a shock.

The mega-farm operated by brothers Darryl and Russell Monette obtained protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. With an extension granted this month, it now has access to $90 million to continue to operate and come up with a plan before June 19 for how it will service its debts and stem operational losses in an incredibly challenging environment.

Monette embarked on a massive expansion over the past decade to become what court affidavits describe as “one of the largest private farms in the world” — owning and leasing more than 400,000 acres of farmland and employing about 425 workers.

A labyrinth of 17 related companies and three limited partnerships is spread over four western provinces and several U.S. states. It’s farming activities focus on grain, produce, cattle, seed processing, vegetables and even a winery.

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Friday, May. 8, 2026

Agriculture

SUPPLIED Charlie Fiordalis, a marketing professional based in Darien, Conn., is the new CEO at Think Shift, an agriculture marketing agency in Winnipeg.

Think Shift appoints new chief executive on ‘AI plus AI’ approach

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

Think Shift appoints new chief executive on ‘AI plus AI’ approach

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

Rejecting return-to-office mandates, using artificial intelligence and working with more clients in the United States are top priorities for the new leader of a Winnipeg marketing agency that specializes in agriculture.

Think Shift Inc., appointed Charlie Fiordalis as its chief executive officer last month. He replaced Robert Thorston, who served as CEO for seven years before stepping down and joining the company’s finance team.

A marketing veteran who has spent most of his career working in and around New York City, Fiordalis was most recently the head of growth at PMG, a company that works with iconic brands such as Apple, Nike, and Sephora.

The Darien, Conn., resident says he was drawn to Think Shift because the company is “big enough to matter (and) small enough to change.”

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Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

Opinion

Mike McCleary / The Associated Press files A new genetically modified canola has the potential to push into areas previously too hot and dry for it — areas mustard (above) thrives in.

Mustard farmers face cross-pollination risk

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Mustard farmers face cross-pollination risk

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026

Genetically modified crops may have gained widespread adoption among farmers since their introduction 30 years ago, but they remain a polarizing force within the farming community.

Because GM technology still struggles to achieve full market acceptance, many farmers reap the benefits at the expense of a few others who lose relatively small but important markets.

For example, nearly 100 per cent of the commercial canola produced in Canada comes from varieties that are herbicide-tolerant, which is most often a result of GMO traits.

Their widespread use makes it impossible for organic farmers to grow canola that is certifiably free of GM contamination, thanks to Prairie winds that move pollen easily from one field to another.

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Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026

Opinion

Potential for fertilizer use efficiency spikes alongside prices

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026

Farmers may have difficulty seeing the opportunity lurking in the fertilizer prices skyrocketing alongside those military drones soaring over the Middle East.

After all, these are times that test the fortitude of any optimist.

Farmers can’t do anything about the sticker price on crop nutrients, but the latest annual Fertilizer Canada survey tracking their use suggests they have more latitude to adjust their purchases.

The current economics around crop fertility may accomplish what environmental and climate change lobbyists have been advocating for years. Farmers may be driven to accept the science and adopt different technologies — both new and old — that improve how efficiently they feed their crops.

Opinion

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES David Reid drives a seeding rig as he plants a wheat crop near Cremona, Alta. Wheat is grown on nearly 50,000 farms in Canada, but fertilizer cost issues this season may alter that number.

No one-size-fits-all answers on farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

No one-size-fits-all answers on farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Mar. 21, 2026

We all complain about sticker price shock at the grocery store, but when it comes to inflation, farmers have been eating at least some of it on our behalf.

Even before the Middle East firestorm broke out Feb. 28, farming was becoming disproportionately expensive.

Manitoba Agriculture extension economist Darren Bond told a webinar this week that compared to five years ago, farmers’ overall costs of production have risen around 50 per cent — well above the general inflation rate of around 20 per cent. Whether buying new equipment, repairing what they have or acquiring more land, they are often faced with double-digit increases annually.

Can they rent their way out of the bind? A farmer hoping to avoid paying a 46 per cent price increase in the cost of a new sprayer will pay 72 per cent more for a rental than they did in 2020.

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Saturday, Mar. 21, 2026

Agriculture

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Mary-Jane Orr, general manager of Manitoba Beef & Forage Initiatives (left), and Karli Reimer, manager of outreach at Ducks Unlimited Canada

Ducks Unlimited provides $1-M pasture for farming research

Julia-Simone Rutgers 4 minute read Preview

Ducks Unlimited provides $1-M pasture for farming research

Julia-Simone Rutgers 4 minute read Monday, Mar. 16, 2026

A Manitoba farming research non-profit will have more space to let cattle roam and graze on prairie grasslands — and study how that foraging affects biodiversity — through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada.

On Monday, the conservation organization announced it is providing $1 million worth of land to nearly double the size of the Brookdale Research Farm north of Brandon.

“This expansion of land is going to be an opportunity to do commercial-scale case studies and data collection… and then share it back to producers in a real-world setting,” said Mary-Jane Orr, general manager of Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives.

Brookdale Farm — one of two farm stations managed by Beef and Forage Initiatives — typically tested new technology, land-management practices and other farming innovations on a smaller footprint, less than 20 acres at a time. With the addition of the 467-acre Odanah Pasture, the organization will be able to work with farmers at a more true-to-life scale, helping to ease the risk for producers looking to implement new practices with their herds.

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Monday, Mar. 16, 2026

Opinion

TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN FILES An agricultural drone on display at Manitoba Ag Days 2026 in Brandon in January.

Drone application big step in crop protection

Laura Rance 5 minute read Preview

Drone application big step in crop protection

Laura Rance 5 minute read Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

It’s been a long time coming, but Health Canada is finally moving forward with a plan that would allow farmers to spray weeds using drones.

The department that oversees Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has launched a 30-day public consultation process on a proposal to regulate drone applications of pesticides similarly to manned aircraft applications.

The change, if approved, would allow manufacturers whose products are already approved for application by manned aircraft to add application by drones to their product labels without going through the costly and time-consuming process of applying for a label change.

Currently, there are no agricultural pesticide products registered for drone application largely because the current regulations require every product to go through a separate registration process providing supporting data.

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Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

Agriculture

Just as Bayer rolled out a new plan to settle once and for all thousands of lawsuits claiming the active ingredient in Roundup causes cancer, U.S. President Donald Trump was declaring the product critical to the nation’s food security. (Haven Daley / The Associated Press files)

Herbicide drama a nightmare for farmers, investors and government

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Herbicide drama a nightmare for farmers, investors and government

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026

Glyphosate, arguably farmers’ favourite herbicide and the central character in a high-stakes drama now spanning decades, was back in the news this week.

Just as Bayer rolled out a new plan to settle thousands of lawsuits claiming the active ingredient in Roundup causes cancer, U.S. President Donald Trump was declaring the product critical to the nation’s food security.

These are just the latest twists in a plotline that has embroiled regulatory agencies in controversy, and which has now jumped out of courtrooms and investor calls to the highest political level.

Bayer shares jumped and then slumped midweek as the market debated whether the company’s proposed US$7.25-billion settlement plan would end the legal nightmare it inherited with its purchase of Monsanto in 2018. It has reportedly already paid out more than $10 billion to settle claims glyphosate exposure is connected to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026

Opinion

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

The absurdity of our civilization’s extreme relationship with food hit me like a runaway snowboard the other night while watching the Ozempic Olympics in between commercials advertising pizza and french fries.

The relentless marketing, alternately promoting weight-loss support and foods that lean towards making us fat, isn’t aimed at the elite winter athletes strutting their stuff on the world stage in Italy. It’s a safe bet they didn’t achieve the peak of human fitness on a diet of pizza and french fries. It’s equally doubtful they require injections of the GLP-1 class of drugs to help manage their weight.

These athletes deserve our admiration and respect, but to be fair to the rest of us, most working stiffs don’t have the time, drive or resources to devote full-time to the pursuit of extreme fitness.

No, those commercials are aimed at the couch potatoes back home, subjecting us to both temptation and a shortcut to redemption as we bear witness to these feats of human endurance.

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Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Agriculture

AgWest Brandon branch manager Derek Papineau (right) stands in front of the new facility with his assistant, Mike Noto. (Abiola Odutola / The Brandon Sun files)

Agriculture equipment dealer AgWest opens new Brandon-area location

Abiola Odutola 3 minute read Preview

Agriculture equipment dealer AgWest opens new Brandon-area location

Abiola Odutola 3 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

BRANDON — AgWest Ltd. has opened the doors of its new Brandon-area location, citing the Westman city’s role as a central agricultural hub and a growing customer base.

The Canadian ag equipment dealer’s new facility, located at 1 Rusty Way in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, just south of the Trans-Canada Highway, brings parts, service and operations together in a purpose-built space.

It was designed to improve efficiency and reduce downtime for producers during critical seasons, such as seeding and harvest, chief executive officer Neil Douglas said in an email.

“Brandon has long been a key hub for agriculture in western Manitoba and our customer base in the Westman region has continued to grow,” Douglas said. “The timing was driven by the need to better support producers with faster service turnaround, improved parts availability and a facility that reflects how modern farm equipment is serviced today.”

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Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

Opinion

JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES A person passes sunflowers growing at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, site of Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada’s headquarters.

Agricultural innovation takes hit in federal cuts

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Agricultural innovation takes hit in federal cuts

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Everyone knew cuts to federal programs and jobs were coming.

Something must give if elected officials are to make good on promises to address what many characterized as Canada’s bloated bureaucracy and ballooning deficits, while boosting its military defence systems and protecting the economy from a neighbour gone rogue.

And while the Canadian effort to shrink the cost of governing is a little less dramatic than that in the U.S. a year ago, the application of across-the-board cuts has been anything but surgical.

Farmers and unions, who rarely agree on anything, are united in opposition to news Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is closing three research facilities and four research farms, and cutting around 650 positions. The cuts include a host of programs, including those focused on organic farming, regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.

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Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Opinion

Laura Rance China will always be a fickle buyer for Canadian farm goods, U.S.-based analyst Jacob Shapiro told a gathering at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon.

Farmers face new role in multipolar world

Laura Rance 5 minute read Preview

Farmers face new role in multipolar world

Laura Rance 5 minute read Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026

BRANDON — Farmers escaping the cold drudgery of winter to sneak a peek at shiny new equipment at Manitoba Ag Days this week might have hoped they could leave the world’s problems outside for a few hours.

However, geopolitics followed them inside the sprawling Keystone Centre like a foggy draft, cloaking speaker sessions and conversations alike in a blanket of uncertainty.

Farmers knew going in the outlook for markets will put the profitability required to support new machinery purchases out of reach for many this year, but it never hurts just to look.

And even though the “what-if” scenarios emerging from U.S. President Donald Trump’s ever-more-ominous ramblings dampened the optimism surrounding Canada’s new deal with China to restore trade in key agricultural commodities, some hopeful undercurrents emerged.

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Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026

Agriculture

20012026 Todd Fraser with Flaman speaks with a visitor to Manitoba Ag Days 2026 about the uses for a DJI Agras T100 drone on display at the Flaman booth on Tuesday. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Manitoba Ag Days takes flight with focus on drone tech advancements

Abiola Odutola 4 minute read Preview

Manitoba Ag Days takes flight with focus on drone tech advancements

Abiola Odutola 4 minute read Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

BRANDON — Manitoba Ag Days kicked off its annual event on Tuesday with a strong spotlight on innovation as the large-scale drones showcased on the trade show floor drew plenty of attention.

The Spider-i M400 agricultural spray drone marks a shift in how producers should think about the technology, Ag Drone Canada president Travis Karle said.

Karle, who has been a pilot for 35 years, said he has spent the last four years working with manufacturers to develop a proper high-capacity, high-volume, aerial spray drone. Karle described the M400 as “by far the biggest drone in the industry,” featuring a tank capacity of up to 210 litres, three batteries and extended flight time.

“Instead of thinking of that as a drone, now we’re looking at a piece of farm equipment,” he said. “We’re 100 acres per hour-plus with that drone of that size.”

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Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Opinion

Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS files China is Canada’s second-largest market for grains and oilseeds, worth about $4 billion annually for canola alone.

Gains with China augur further strife with U.S.

Laura Rance 5 minute read Preview

Gains with China augur further strife with U.S.

Laura Rance 5 minute read Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

The package of two-way concessions the Canadian delegation led by Prime Minister Mark Carney is bringing home from China is a game-changer for the agricultural sector on multiple fronts.

While there will be lots of nitpicking to come, the agreements significantly reduce the punishing tariffs the Chinese imposed on $2.6 billion in Canadian agricultural goods, while allowing Canadian consumers increased access to more affordable electric vehicles without gutting the Canadian auto sector.

Canada will start allowing up to 49,000 electric vehicles into the country at the most-favoured nation tariffs of 6.1 per cent, a sharp drop from the 100 per cent tariff imposed by the previous Liberal government under Justin Trudeau.

Farm organizations were quick to applaud the announcements. China is Canada’s second-largest market for grains and oilseeds, worth about $4 billion annually for canola alone.

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Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

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