In 2024, the MFGA welcomed the Senate report that called for a long-term soil health strategy for the nation, along with soil being named a national asset and designating a soil health advocate. Senator Rob Black, who has outspokenly pushed soil health on Parliament Hill and elsewhere, singled out the development of the strategy among 25 recommendations outlined in the report.

A little under two years later, there’s a promise from Ottawa to make that proposed strategy a reality.

On March 26, the federal government announced plans toward development of a national agricultural soil health strategy.

“It’s a critical time that we’re in, relevant to soil erosion, climate change, and everything that we’re doing with technology and innovation is to ensure that soil remains where it is,” federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said.

“(The strategy) is going to put an element of integrity on any research that’s being done in the future and hopefully that research can coincide with what we’re seeing here today.”

Manitoba support

It’s a “wonderful announcement,” MFGA executive director Duncan Morrison said.

“MFGA applauds the engagement of the strategy,” he said. “Of course, as with everything, the proof will be in the pudding as to how this is all mobilized, but on Day 1, it’s a great day.”

The organization, Morrison said, has thrown its weight behind the development of a strategy, both among its communications and its support of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) — another group that has pushed hard for a strategy, and that the government says will be tapped for input as the strategy is developed. He also pointed to letters of support and congratulations they have sent to Black and Senator Paula Simons, who also helped drive the 2024 Senate soil report.

Morrison further threw kudos to Manitoba’s Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP).

KAP has helped get Manitoba farmers a seat at the table on the issue, he noted, adding the MFGA has since met with KAP and hopes to see outreach to the MFGA as “a farmer-focused group that has been pushing the soil health narrative hard for the last decade.”

“These things take time towards sorting out, and we sure hope that the regen ag practices and mindsets on our MFGA farmers’ farms are being valued and included here as part of the soil health solution,” Morrison said.

Soil health bill

The strategy announcement dovetails with gains for Black’s Bill S-230, the National Strategy for Soil Health Act, which closely follows the report’s 25 recommendations. That bill also passed in the Senate March 26, and MacDonald said Bill S-230 will inform the strategy.

During Bill S-230’s third reading, Black told the Senate chamber it was bolstering to know “the government not only supports the bill but is ready to move forward before it is legislated.”

Reading the AAFC’s intention to develop a national soil health strategy during the third reading showed the value of the Senate, Black said. “It also put (the government) on record, on notice that we’re watching,” Black said.

According to Black, work on the strategy to safeguard Canadian soil could begin as early as April and be completed and officially launched by December 2027.

Collaboration with farmers, industry pledged

Ideally, Black said, the national strategy will avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. It will include educational support, financial support, peer-to-peer networks and a position for a national soil health advocate. He noted Australia’s soil advocates have been very effective in promoting the adoption of soil health practices, but acknowledged the position comes with a cost.

Collaboration will play a key role in developing the strategy, with input from the SCCC, farmers, the agriculture industry, Indigenous communities, provinces and territories and related ministries.

For the MFGA’s part, Morrison said they are “determined to contribute and advance soil health awareness and encourage on-farm uptake of BMPs (best management practices).

“We have been pushing for exactly this type of structure, soil strategy and leadership for years,” he said.

Healthy soils important for all Canadians: Kruszel

The in-depth research by Black and the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry into Canada’s soil has highlighted the significance of healthy soil and the threats it faces, said Alan Kruszel, SCCC’s eastern producer director.

“Healthy soils are so important for producers as well as for all Canadians. Healthy soils provide the majority of the food we eat,” he said. “Soils help to purify our water, to clean our air and provide habitats for all kinds of life.”

Kruszel said the agriculture sector provides one in nine jobs nationally. Investment in soil health is ongoing through research, farm organizations, input suppliers and other groups to support the adoption of sustainable on-farm practices.

“Our intention through the national soil health strategy is to optimize those investments through collaborations,” he said. “And collectively working to identify gaps in research, measurement, education and extension, and of course, resources while establishing priority actions that we can all work on.”

— With files from Diana Martin

The post MFGA praises federal government’s national soil strategy promise appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The week-long event, hosted by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, is in its last dayafter opening its doors March 30.

The annual spring break tradition features entertainers, vendors, a long list of horse sports events, as well as other features that bring attendees up close and personal with agriculture.

Manitoba’s major farm commodity groups were also in attendance, many with hands-on activities or live animal displays set up to mimic farm conditions.

The post PHOTOS: Farming in focus at Royal Manitoba Winter Fair appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The rodeo event was on the schedule leading up to the week-long fair in Brandon, but was pulled at the last minute by the sport’s sanctioning body, the Canadian Cowboys Association (CCA), fair officials said.

In an April 1 release, the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba (the organizing force behind the RMWF), said the association’s decision was “due to external requirements that could not be met within the necessary timelines.”

Clarke Swain, exhibition vice-president and horse show chair, said the issue centred on proof of vaccine requirements.

The RMWF’s proof of vaccination form, shared with the Co-operator, requires a horse arriving at the fair to be “enrolled in a regular and consistent program” vaccinating against equine herpesviruses one and four and equine influenza, “with the most recent booster being within six (6) months (+21 days grace period) but not 7 days prior to arrival of the competition start date.”

Swain said there was confusion on what that timeline meant, and miscommunication about what was needed between the exhibition and the Canadian Cowboys Association.

“[Participants] automatically thought that as long as it wasn’t within the seven days, that they could come,” Swain said.

But the exhibition follows Equestrian Canada (EC) rules, due to the number of hunter-jumpers at the show, Swain said, and the actual requirement is that vaccination must be done 21 days out from the event. Information packages for both the fair’s hunter-jumper class and pole bending class (which is not sanctioned by EC), says vaccines must be current within six months and given no earlier than three weeks out from the show.

The exhibition was notified March 29, a day before competition, that some of the incoming participants didn’t meet the vaccine requirements, Swain said. He added that he got notice from the cowboy’s association that the event was cancelled late that day.

“While we were trying to figure out, is it seven days that we need it, or is it 21 … CCA made a decision just to cancel [the barrel racing],” Swain said. “They informed us that they had cancelled it, emailed all the competitors, then it was cancelled. They posted it cancelled while we were still working in the background to figure it out.”

The Canadian Cowboys Association did not respond to requests for comment as of press time. The organization’s 2025 bylaws and rodeo rules do not mention vaccine reporting rules.

Conflicting interpretations

When reached for clarification on the rules, a spokesperson for Equestrian Canada said “Equestrian Canada can confirm that the EC competition portion of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is fully compliant with the EC vaccination rules and is running with no cancellations. If there are other activities at the fair that require vaccinations, that is outside of our jurisdiction and we can not make comment.”

Guidance published by Equestrian Canada states that, as of 2020, “horses competing in competitions should receive a booster for Equine Influenza and Equine Herpes Virus within six (6) months +21 days before arrival at an event.”

In addition, the national organization says, no vaccine should have been administered within a week of arrival.

The provincial exhibition typically requires proof of vaccination by a certain date a few weeks out from the event so that they can review the paperwork, Swain said. Many entrants missed that date.

After news broke of the cancellation, Swain said they toyed with the idea of running an unsanctioned event for those who had already arrived and who did pass the bar on vaccines, “but we just thought it wasn’t fair to the people that had put the work into coming here for us to run anybody at that point.”

Competitors left scrambling

Would-be competitors took to social media to express their disappointment. Criticisms included the last-minute nature of the cancellation, given already booked accommodations, travel and time off work.

“Like many competitors, I spent months preparing my horse for this,” one account, attributed to the name Sandra Spencer, posted publicly on Facebook. “Time, money, and commitment all went into getting ready for this event —only to have it cancelled due to conflicting interpretations of a vaccination policy.”

Grady Stephenson says his daughter was set to compete in both barrel racing and pole bending. They stayed at the RMWF to compete in the latter after barrel races were called off.

Clear details have been hard to come by, he noted.

“With checking with CCA and checking with the provincial exhibition, everybody was kind of pointing the fingers at each other,” he said.

Coming from the Dauphin area, travel was less inconvenient for them than more far flung competitors, he noted, but “I think some that were coming from out of province were a little bit upset that things changes and when they changed.”

Fixing for next year

The provincial exhibition is talking about how to avoid similar pitfalls next year, Swain said.

The exhibition will be reviewing their vaccine requirements into a standardized policy, plans to send information out earlier and will likely move up the deadline to submit proof of vaccine.

“We understand how important this event is to our exhibitors, participants, and fans, and we sincerely apologize for the disappointment this has caused,” the exhibition’s April 1 release read. “Please know that our team explored every possible option to move forward with the event and worked closely with partners and exhibitors to try and find a solution.”

The post Vaccine confusion wipes out barrel racing at Royal Manitoba Winter Fair appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Granted, if they had the forethought and storage capacity to buy fertilizer in the fall or top up their farm fuel reserves, they’re not taking mortal financial blows right before seeding — but with every new gas field struck, fertilizer plant shuttered or country shutting down fertilizer exports to protect their slice of the global pie, it seems less likely that supply chains will get back to status quo anytime soon.

According to an FCC web post, released in early March and recently cited by our reporter Miranda Leybourne, a 2022 study suggested about half of Prairie farmers have their fertilizer by late March. That’s more than in Eastern Canada (only 10 per cent of Ontario farmers had done the same), but it still leaves a lot of producers potentially eating big bills this spring.

Cycle of uncertainty for farmers

As our executive editor Laura Rance noted a few weeks ago, this kind of chaos has become all too familiar.

COVID-19 threw international supply chains into a blender. Inflation has ballooned far more for farmers than even other Canadians. Manitoba Agriculture staff puts the farm inflation rate in the last five years at up to 50 per cent. Canada picked another fight with China, and canola took the brunt. Then there’s the second era of Donald Trump, whose policies have helped throw more uncertainty and market volatility into the mix than the world has seen in decades.

Farmers have become unfortunately used to waking up one morning to find their market gone or input prices spiking due to events impossible to anticipate and which often have nothing to do with them.

A system can only take so much before people start looking for alternatives. If farmers are shopping for innovations though, they’re going to have to wrestle with the reality that many of those technologies have the word “sustainable” associated with them.

That’s the tone of society; and it’s often the buzzword that attracts either public or private investment enough to get those ag tech concepts over the finish line.

Many farmers resent the “green” mandates being imposed upon them by government and public pressure. The federal goal to reduce fertilizer emissions by 30 per cent under 2020 levels by the end of the decade is a prime example.

Farmers’ were first and foremost worried that it would turn into a hard limit on nitrogen fertilizer use. The federal government has always denied that, saying that it’s going to be more about encouraging efficiencies.

If urea futures are going to start spiking 30 per cent though (as they did within two days of the intensified conflict in Iran), maybe less natural gas derived fertilizer isn’t a bad thing.

A case for self-sufficiency

Most of the farms that I’ve seen who have bought into regenerative or “sustainable” practices have a financial reason, rather than just an ideological one. They want long-term viability and to be able to absorb shocks they’ve observed in the field or have suffered in the bank account.

Such was the case with R&L Acres near Sperling, home to Manitoba’s first on-farm green ammonia plant.

Yes, government and researchers had an environmental interest in the initiative. It uses hydro power and electrolysis to get hydrogen from water, rather than natural gas. Combined with nitrogen from the atmosphere, it becomes on-farm manufactured ammonia.

Researchers have even suggested that green ammonia could one day become an alternate fuel source for machinery.

Farm owner Curtis Hiebert, though, also talked about a desire for self-sufficiency, to decouple from the whims of the fertilizer market and save money, especially when regular ammonia prices were up. The numbers presented in 2024 put final cost of a 500 tonne per year system at $948 per tonne for the farmer.

That may not always offer huge savings, but it will be consistent, and that certainty is also worth something. At the time the system was being installed, the fertilizer market was in turmoil because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Today, there’s a whole new set of world affairs mucking things up.

One plant doesn’t mean green ammonia is about to roll over conventional ways of farming, nor is it clear how much our renewable energy infrastructure would be able to support. Manitoba Hydro has already warned about its looming capacity limits. The up-front cost of the system is also big: an estimated $4.5 million in 2024.

Green ammonia is, though, an example of the kind of farm-focused innovation that could offer legitimate solutions and resiliency in an increasingly uncertain world.

We shouldn’t get so caught on the word “green,” and any complicated feelings that word comes with, that we dismiss the equally real impacts for self-sufficiency, sovereignty, stability and, in the best of cases, cost savings.

The post OPINION: Global chaos raises stakes for green farm technology appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The calf was breech.

Standing a few feet away, Brandon veterinarian Dr. Grayson Ross coached the producer at the rear of the cow through the potential disaster.

“Get it in your mind’s eye,” he said. “You’ve got the rump of a calf right in front of you. The tail’s there. You’ve figured out where the hocks are kind of down below.

“If you can manipulate those hocks and push them away from you, the secondary effect from that is that, as you push the hock away, it’s going to cause the fetlock lower down … to come closer towards you. So, then you can cup that lower limb, cup that hoof, pull it up and pop it into the birth canal.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Dealing with difficult births, or dystocia, is a reality for any cow-calf producer.

The calf was repositioned. The chains went on. A few minutes later, it was out and in the recovery position on the floor.

The entire affair was much calmer, cleaner and handled with much more humour than a typical breech birth.

After all, there were no stakes. The calf was rubber.

Clover, the life-sized calving model, has been making the rounds in the last few months. Most of that string of beef production seminars has had to do with how to diagnose and intervene in a birth, when to intervene and when it’s time to phone the veterinarian.

Ross goes by the 30-minute rule, Manitoba Ag Days attendees heard. If birth has stalled for half an hour, it’s time to glove up. Likewise, if the producer has been trying to assist with no success for 30 minutes, it might be time for a vet visit.

It’s a general rule, Ross acknowledged, and one that must be applied in the context of each circumstance. A cow with her first calf may react differently than an experienced mother, and the threshold for intervention will be different.

“It’s one of those situations where it’s definitely better to be proactive than reactive,” he said.

Dr. Shania Jack, who works out of Morden and Glenboro, suggested producers intervene if the first stages of calving — things like the cow isolating herself when dilation has started, lasts more than six hours or if there’s “continuous cycling going on.”

“So, she’s pushing, lying down, standing up, pushing again and nothing’s happening.”

Heifers should see a calf delivered within 90 minutes after the first sign of feet or water bag, Jack said. For mature cows, that timeline is an hour. “If that’s not happening, we need to check and see what’s going on,” she said.

If there’s a foot out and nothing’s progressing for half an hour to 45 minutes, it’s also time for a check.

General tips

Intervention should come with a few general rules, Ross advised. Firstly, palpation gloves and clean chains are a must. Not only do gloves keep the producer cleaner, but they help mitigate the risk of damage inside the cow as the producer feels around. Likewise, he said, lubricant will make things easier on the cow.

Chains should be double looped to spread out pressure on a calf’s legs. Those loops should be positioned with one above the fetlock and the second above the hoof.

Producers also might want to keep epinephrin on hand. A dose to the neck muscle of the cow relaxes the uterus within around five minutes, Ross said. Once that happens, the calf falls away further into the uterus.

“It sounds kind of counterintuitive. You would think that you want the calf right there so you don’t have to reach in as far. But actually, the further it falls into the cow, you get a lot more room to work,” he said.

Breech birth

Breech births are among the most common calls Ross gets and are some of the most difficult for the producer to resolve on their own.

It’s not just the matter of the backwards calf, he noted. A breech calf will also have their legs tucked underneath them.

The producer will know they’re dealing with a breech if they feel only the tail and rump, no hoofs. From there, the calf should be pushed back into the uterus so the legs can be manipulated (cupping the hoof with the palm to avoid damage to the cow). Then, the calf is pulled backwards.

It’s not an easy or quick fix, he said. Producers will need patience.

It’s often helpful to have another set of hands during a breech birth, Jack said. With a chain, the helper can provide some upward pressure on the flexed leg to keep it from slipping back down while the producer manipulates the limb. She also noted that the producer should be pushing the calf up, not just back, in the uterus to make it easier to grab the hock.

Once a backwards pull starts, Jack said, it’s time for a little urgency.

“They can’t get the oxygen … the umbilicus is pinched off once they’re into that birth canal and they can’t breathe,” she said.

“Our frontwards-facing calves, once we get that chest out, we have a minute to breathe and take a moment with that calf. We don’t have to panic to rush to get them out super quick. We need to take some time. Allow the cow to recover and allow the calf to recover once that chest is out.”

There is also more urgency if the birth has stretched too long, she noted, since both calf and cow will be under stress and losing strength.

After the breech

Ross also urged producers to remember the “Rule of breeches”: Check for pairs and check for tears.

Despite a producer’s best efforts, something may have torn during the intervention. That doesn’t happen often, if producers are being careful and making sure to cup the hoofs, he said, but “once you’ve found out that it’s probably happened, it’s often too late for the animal.”

About half of breech births are twins, he also noted, since the second body in the uterus can make it difficult for the first to be correctly positioned.

Don’t panic

Knowing when to take your time can be critical, Jack said. Once birth is underway and things are going poorly, it’s common for producers to rush, leading to mistakes or injury to either cow or calf.

“I know it’s a stressful time of year and it’s their livelihood and they don’t make money off a dead calf, but taking a moment (is important), making sure that everything’s correct before we pull that calf,” she said.

It is comparatively easy to cause damage while pulling, she cautioned.

In the case of a backwards calf, as long as the hocks aren’t out yet, the producer can take a few minutes and help dilate the canal with their arms to make the pull easier on the cow.

In the case of a hip-locked calf or too-big calf where things have progressed too far for a C-section, a producer can try and rotate the calf.

The gap in a cow’s pelvis is bigger vertically, Jack noted, and crossing the hooves before the pull will rotate the calf 45 to 90 degrees so the hips can slide through. If the calf is stifle-locked, meaning the knees have come up and are caught on the brim of the pelvis, adding a downward direction to the pull can help.

C-section

It’s better, however, to know whether a C-section is needed before things get to that point.

Producers should have room to reach in and feel all around the calf. If not, it’s likely too big to pull.

“If you can easily pull both of the calf’s fetlocks about a hand’s length, or about four inches, outside the vulva and the calf’s head is completely within the birth canal, that calf can typically be delivered just by pulling it,” Jack said.

Hoofs that come out crossed, however, should be a big red flag.

“What’s happening is their big shoulders are entering the birth canal and there’s so much pressure that it’s crossing those front feet,” Jack said.

For backwards calves, the hips are in the pelvic canal if the hocks are out, she noted. Since that’s the widest part of the body, if the producer can feel around the hips at this point, the calf will likely fit.

Pain control

Jack also urged producers to have pain medication for the cow on hand anytime they’ve had to pull.

“Back in the day, we didn’t have access to these sort of medications,” she said, but added that, in the modern day, those medications can and should be sourced through a farm’s veterinarian.

Farmer stress

It’s never a good feeling when calving is going wrong, Jack acknowledged. Once farmers make the call and it becomes a waiting game for the veterinarian to arrive, she advises her clients take some time to prepare. Have warm water handy and an area set up for a possible C-section.

“Getting that stuff organized while you’re waiting for the vet helps to keep your mind a little bit preoccupied so that you’re not stressing about the fact that you can’t get this calf out of the cow.”

The post THROWBACK: Pro tips for a calving crisis appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The facility, previously owned by U.S.-based Scoular, has been bought by Orenda Commodity Services Ltd. out of Ste. Agathe. The deal includes all of Scoular’s sunflower and wild bird food blending business, according to a Jan. 20 release from the Nebraska company.

“Running two facilities, that’ll do two things,” said Nicolas Nordick, assistant general manager with Orenda. “It’ll obviously grow our throughput in a year, and what it’ll also do is it will give us a bit of flexibility if ever there is breakdowns or whatever. We can keep servicing our customers and also our producers as well. We can keep receiving loads in either facility.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Local farmer contracts with Orenda are expected to jump significantly with a new sunflower facility under the company’s umbrella.

According to the Jan. 20 release, the new owners are a family-owned, “vertically integrated operation with farming roots in the Woodlands (region),” who create custom seed mixes for both bird food and human consumption. The Winkler plant is set up for both streams, Scoular said.

According to Orenda’s website, their business spans special crops commodity marketing, farm sourcing, processing, custom bird food blending, packaging and shipping. As well as sunflower varieties, the company cites crops like millet, milo, safflower and canary seed.

Smooth transition expected

Winkler facility staff will carry over into the new ownership, according to Nordick.

“There’s a very solid crew down in Winkler that mesh really well with our crew in Ste. Agathe — a lot of long-term employees, and that is just very rewarding for us on our end, being the new kids on the block, that they are willing to stay on,” he said.

The company expects farmer contracts will jump with the addition.

“If we’ve got two mouths to feed, we’ve got to service that many more pounds, so it’ll keep growing for sure,” Nordick said.

According to the Jan. 20 release, Orenda employs 80 staff across four locations in Manitoba.

The post Manitoba sunflower plant gets local owners appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In a newsletter Jan. 21, the Manitoba Pork Council said it will hold a special meeting Feb. 12 in Portage la Prairie to discuss and vote on the jump.

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba’s pork sector will decide on whether to increase farmer levies next month.

The proposed increase would raise the hog levy by 10 cents, from 80 cents to 90 cents per hog. Weanling levies would go up two cents per animal, from 19 cents to 21.

“Manitoba currently has the lowest levy rates in Canada,” the newsletter reads. “The current rates have been in place since 2004, when they were reduced from the rates set in 1998 of $0.85 per hog and $0.20 per weanling.”

Registered farmers can choose a proxy to vote for them, Manitoba Pork says, but farmers who wish to do so must submit notice to them prior to Feb. 12. Those notices can be sent to the council by email.

The post Manitoba Pork Council pitches levy increase appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

According to the data, the answer is yes.

That was among the insights from David Van Deynze, chief product officer with Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), as he took the stage during the opening day of Manitoba Ag Days 2026.

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba Ag Days is again drawing crowds Jan. 20-22 at Brandon’s Keystone Centre.

MASC’s data backs up the now-common idea that farm sizes have been shifting on the Prairies in recent decades. In 1996, the average size of a farm insured by MASC was 690 acres. Last year, it was 1,460 acres.

The Crown corporation looked at insured farms from 2003-2024. Dividing farm categories by size, and then looking at the frequency of claims per size category, there’s a sweet spot where claim frequency drops, Van Deynze noted. Farms under 500 acres and over 7,500 acres both had higher claim frequencies. That dropped in farms between 500-1,500 acres, and again for farms 1,500-3,000 acres and 3,000-4,500 acres, before starting to rise again in larger size categories.

“Of course, insurance programs don’t always look at exactly how many claims they have,” Van Deynze said. “What probably is more meaningful is how big are those claims? How much money are they collecting from the insurance program relative to the coverage that we’re offering?”

On that front, small farms under 500 acres also had a much higher loss-to-coverage ratio (0.124), MASC data showed. That ratio dropped significantly for the larger farms. Even 500- to 1,500-acre farms saw the ratio drop to 0.086. The trend largely continued down as farms got bigger, hitting a plateau of 0.059 at 3,000 acres, and rising slightly again for farms 6,000-7,500 acres (0.061). Farms 7,500 acres and larger had an LCR of 0.058.

“Whether you’re a 3,000-acre farm or bigger-than-7,500-acre farm, your loss ratio is essentially the same,” Van Deynze said.

MASC data also showed benefits on crop diversity (more crop groups in the rotation showed a steady drop in LCR).

Does that mean you should get a break on your premiums for a larger, more diverse farm?

Not directly, Van Deynze said. Instead, the relative lack of claims seen by certain farms will start to play out in their premiums through the basic process of crop insurance calculation.

For more Manitoba Ag Days coverage, watch the Co-operator’s Ag Days landing page.

The post MANITOBA AG DAYS: Does farm size affect crop insurance risk? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“It’ a toehold,” said association chair Warren Ellis during Manitoba Ag Days Jan. 20. “It’s like that guy that comes to your door and you open the door a crack and he sticks his foot in … you hope to get more out of it later.”

The association is going to keep pushing the issue with government in hopes of getting an even better deal — one that’s more long term.

“But it’s a start, and that’s a wonderful thing,” Ellis said.

“If we just hold out for the perfect deal, we won’t get any deal at all,” he later added.

WHY IT MATTERS: Canola trade to China, Canada’s second-largest customer for the oilseed, ground to a stand-still for months after China slapped 75.8 per cent tariffs on seed, on top of a 100 per cent levy on canola oil, meal, peas and 25 per cent tariff on pork and seafood in place since last spring.

The agreement-in-principle — which expects to reduce tariffs on Canadian canola seed down to 15 per cent and eliminate the duty on peas and canola meal as of March 1 — is lacking on some points, Ellis said, but it seems to be a change in approach between Canada and China. That trade relationship has been frosty in the past decade, including another tiff over canola in in 2019 when China put the breaks on shipments from Richardson International and Viterra.

Canola market reaction

Farmers saw some market optimism immediately after the deal’s announcement. There was renewed canola buying from China. Reuters reported 60,000 tonnes newly headed to China for March delivery — the first shipment planned since October.

ICE canola futures briefly jumped by C$17 on Jan. 16, according to an update from Glacier MarketsFarm. Within hours that had tempered to a $3-per-tonne gain.

As of Jan. 20, futures were still creeping higher. March contracts were up $2.30. On the higher end, November contracts were up $5.70 as of 10:45 a.m. central time.

At the same time, Intercontinental Exchange canola futures lost ground among old crop contracts on Jan. 20, Glacier MarketsFarm also reported.

Ellis isn’t disappointed about that less-than-bombastic market movement. It’s indicative of the facts of the deal, he said. The agreement “is good, but it’s not a silver bullet for the whole problem. And so there’s a slight reaction to the upwards because it is better than it was a few days ago, but it’s not a panacea.”

David Drozd, senior market analyst and founder of grain market advisory company AgChieve, said he’s happy Canadian canola trade with China is moving again. No tariff would be better, he noted, but “in this day and age, with all of these tariffs flying around, 15 per cent — I think if a customer is really looking for the seed, I’m not so sure that’s a huge detriment at the moment,” he said.

Canola industry pushes

Remaining concerns include the deal’s shelf life — only until the end of 2026 for canola meal.

There’s also been mixed good news and bad news in other agriculture sectors.

Grain market analysts have seen positive direction in the pea market, Pulse Canada recently told Glacier FarmMedia. Canadian beef exports could soon be headed back to China after a four-year pause, the Canadian Cattle Association celebrated Jan. 19, but so far there has been no movement on pork tariffs. Canola oil was likewise excluded, noted Brittany Wood, senior manager of transportation and trade policy with the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA).

“There’s work to be done, I think,” Wood said. “We’ve got to see what happens in terms of actual trade flow.”

The CCGA would like to see the remaining seed tariffs reduced yet more and the tariff on meal eliminated. “It’s important for oil as well,” she said. “We definitely have a U.S. (oil) market, but if you just go back through the trade history of canola oil exports to China, there have been significant volumes that have gone to China not that far back.”

China’s anti-dumping investigation, which lead to the tariffs against Canada, came in the wake of 100 per cent tariffs Canada placed against Chinese electric vehicles, following the lead of the U.S. The move outraged farmers, who accused Ottawa of sacrificing their Chinese market to protect a domestic electric vehicle market that hadn’t yet found its feet.

The deal will likely make a positive difference for canola, Beochers said. At the same time, he added, farmers currently have a lack of trust on the issue.

“We’ll see if it pans out,” he said. “We got a little blip in the market.”

On Jan. 16, however, Reuters reported supportive comments from U.S. President Donald Trump. “It’s a good thing for him (Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney) to sign a trade deal,” Trump was quoted as saying. “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that.”

Canola industry and grain market experts at Manitoba Ag Days were also less than concerned.

“Whoever we’re marketing grain to, if they need the product, they will come to Canada for it,” Drodz said, “and I actually think this is a good thing that we’re starting to see some effort to find markets outside of the U.S. It’s something we should have done a long time ago.”

The U.S. remains Canada’s most important canola market, Wood noted. About $7.7 billion worth of canola oil, meal and seed (oil being the largest market) heads directly south, compared to $4.9 billion to China (mostly seed). The CCGA is attuned to what’s happening in the U.S. and the looming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, she said.

While everyone was aware of the trade sensitivities, she noted, “We had to get that China market open. It was important to us, important to canola farmers.”

For more Manitoba Ag Days coverage, check out the Manitoba Co-operator’s Ag Days landing page.

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The first 15 are already out. From tariff tensions to invasive wild pigs to weather, here’s a taste of what farmers wanted to read most over the last year:

No. 25 — Port of Churchill searches for year-round trade: In November, KAP hosted Arctic Gateway Group’s CEO to talk future plans for Manitoba’s northern port. Part of the big expansion planned is a goal to keeping the ice open, and trade flowing, all year long.

No. 24 — Weather school: It’s all about the clouds: Do you know your cumulus from your nimbostratus? This piece from way back in 2020 re-emerged on our most-read list for 2025.

No.23 — Fishing the deep water of Manitoba: Want fishing success farther from shore? Our outdoors columnist Tim Sopuck ran readers down some tips and tricks for catching deep water fish in Manitoba.

No. 22 — Manitoba’s wild pigs not headed for population boom, expert says: The co-ordinator for Manitoba’s Squeal on Pigs program says our cold climate situation isn’t comparable to U.S.

No. 21 — We’ve seen trade wars before, but this time is different: Throwing back all the way to January for this one. This early 2025 editorial looked down the barrel of changing U.S. trade policy and what it could mean for Canadian agriculture.

Nov. 20 — Riverside Hutterite Colony gets top honours: It was a western Manitoba sweep at this year’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Pork Quality Competition back in spring.

Other highlights so far include beekeepers battling for survival, more trade and tariff stories and Manitoba’s first bovine tuberculosis case in years.

Want to see the full list? Check out our top stories landing page in the top-left corner of our website. Keep checking back until Jan. 31 as we unveil our top 10.

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