“And very mixed in the direction they’re going,” Leclerc added.

She said some in the industry are saying the feedlots are full and feed prices are coming down, while other people indicated prices are largely unchanged.

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Leclerc said elevator prices are flat as well, but wheat prices have been pointing upward. That should lead to higher prices for feed wheat.

“They’re going to have to eventually buy it at a level where its comparable to where you can sell it elsewhere,” she said.

Feed prices were steady to higher across Western Canada, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire.

For the week ended April 1, feed barley gained seven cents in Alberta at C$5.01 to C$6.75 per bushel delivered and it added four cents in Manitoba at C$4.60 to C$4.75. Prices in Saskatchewan were unchanged at C$5.12 to C$5.45 bu./del.

As for feed wheat, prices were firmer, with the only increase in Manitoba of five cents at C$6.32 bu./del. Alberta was steady at C$5.97 to C$8.41 bu./del. and Saskatchewan held at C$7.30.

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India

The USDA attaché in New Delhi projected India’s 2026/27 canola production at 12.10 million tonnes, slightly higher than the 2025/26 harvest of 11.90 million.

While yields are expected to hold at 1.31 tonnes per hectare, the attaché forecast Indian farmers to harvest more area – 9.25 million hectares versus 9.10 million in 2025/26.

“(Canola) is expected to remain profitable, with prices sufficient to cover input costs and ensure solid margins for growers,” the attaché wrote.

WHY IT MATTERS: India is among the largest canola producers in the world and Japan is a major oilseed importer.

Despite India being one of the world’s top canola growers, the country does not import or export the crop.

The New Delhi desk estimated the domestic crush will bump up to 10.90 million tonnes from 10.70 million, while domestic consumption is to match the 2026/27 crop. Ending stocks are to hold at 569,000 tonnes.

Japan

As for Japan, it will continue to be one of the major canola importers. However those for 2026/27 are to dip to 2.15 million tonnes from 2.16 million the year before.

The USDA attaché in Tokyo said the bulk of Japan’s canola imports come from Canada, but the supplier’s share has dropped from about 96 per cent of Japan’s imports to around 83 per cent. Australia has remained a major source of canola for Japan.

“Japanese crushers have noted higher oil extraction rates from Australian canola compared to Canadian seeds, though meal extraction rates are converse,” the attaché said.

Japan’s domestic canola crop is to be only 3,000 tonnes.

Virtually all of the country’s canola will be crushed, with a mere 5,000 tonnes for feed, waste and domestic consumption.

Ending stocks are to remain stable at 200,000 tonnes.

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This extends the $250,000 limit, which was set in March 2025.

Producers can receive an additional $250,000 interest free on canola only for a total of $500,000.

“By increasing the interest-free portion of the Advance Payments Program, we’re helping farmers manage costs, while giving them more flexibility to market their products on their terms,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald said in an April 1 news release.

The program offers up to $1 million to Canadian farmers based on the expected value of their agricultural products. Twenty-four industry groups across Canada deliver the program.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture praised the extension of the $250,000 interest-free limit.

“Maintaining the $250,000 interest free portion reflects the realities farmers are facing today,” said CFA president Keith Currie.

“We are seeing continued volatility in input costs, supply chains and global markets, and this type of support is important in helping farmers navigate those pressures.”

“We look forward to continuing to work with government to secure a permanent increase to the interest free portion of the program, so that producers have the predictability they need to make informed business decisions in an increasingly complex operating environment,” he added.

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The loonie also gave up more than 9/10ths of a cent, making wheat and durum more appealing to export customers.

Canadian Western Red Spring

Average CWRS (13.5 per cent) prices advanced C$14.60 to C$25.70 per tonne, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ (Price and Data Quotes). Prices ranged from about C$278.10 per tonne in southeastern Saskatchewan to C$304.70 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Quoted basis levels varied from location to location and ranged from C$36.20 to C$62.70 per tonne above the futures when using the grain company methodology of quoting the basis as the difference between the U.S. dollar-denominated futures and the Canadian dollar cash bids.

CWRS basis levels

When accounting for currency exchange rates by adjusting Canadian prices to U.S. dollars (C$1=US$0.7174), CWRS bids ranged from US$199.50 to US$218.60 per tonne. That would put the currency-adjusted basis levels at about US$23.40 to US$42.40 below the futures.

Looking at it the other way around, if the Minneapolis futures are converted to Canadian dollars, CWRS basis levels across Western Canada ranged from C$16.80 to C$30.50 below the futures.

Canadian Prairie Spring Red

Average CPRS (11.5 per cent) wheat prices increased C$15.90 to C$17.30 per tonne. Bids ranged from C$252.60 per tonne in northeastern Saskatchewan to C$281.20 per tonne in southern Alberta.

Canadian Western Amber Durum

Average CWAD prices were up more moderately, adding 40 cents to C$1.50 per tonne. Bids ranged from C$282.20 per tonne in northwestern Saskatchewan to C$296.90 per tonne in western Manitoba.

U.S. wheat complex

The May spring wheat contract in Minneapolis, which most CWRS contracts Canada are based off of, was quoted at US$6.5850 per bushel on March 31, advancing 27.25 cents on the week.

The Kansas City hard red winter wheat futures, which are now traded in Chicago, are more closely linked to CPRS in Canada. The May Kansas City wheat contract was quoted at US$6.3550 per bushel on March 31, jumping 31.50 cents.

The May Chicago Board of Trade soft wheat contract settled at US$6.1625 per bushel March 31, gaining 26.25 cents.

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Seventy-two per cent of fields surveyed in the federal-provincial project — one of three surveys measuring herbicide resistance in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta — were found to have at least one type of resistance. Those fields comprised 3.7 million acres of cropland throughout Manitoba.

The percentage grew slightly compared to a similar survey in 2016, when 68 per cent of fields were discovered with herbicide-resistant species. Previous surveys in 2008 and 2002 saw herbicide resistance in 48 and 32 per cent of fields, respectively.

The survey reported that the final bill to the province’s farmers — when factoring reduced crop yields, quality and higher weed management expenditures — was $77 million per year.

Resistance marches on

Unsurprisingly, Group 1 and Group 2 herbicide resistance marched on since the last survey in 2016, says participant Charles Geddes with the Agriculture Canada Lethbridge Research and Development Centre in Alberta.

The survey report called the further adoption of integrated weed management practices among growers “critical” to reducing resistance.

Geddes has mixed feelings on this point because he recognizes the extent Prairie farmers are already using practices such as crop rotations and increased seeding.

“What these surveys suggest is that herbicide resistant weeds continue to increase in their impact, regardless of the practices that are being currently used to manage them.”

Charles Geddes
Agriculture Canada Lethbridge Research and Development Centre

Geddes is finding pockets of producers fighting herbicide resistance with herbicide diversity practices such as mixing modes of action.

A 2017 paper by now-retired Agriculture Canada researchers Hugh Beckie and Neil Harker warned farmers about relying too much on herbicide diversity at the expense of integrated weed management. The paper argued that crop diversity — including a mix of dicots and monocots, winter and spring planted, and annual and perennial crops — exerts different selection pressures on weed communities that herbicide diversity alone cannot replicate.

Some resistance up, some down

The pre-harvest survey occurred in 2022 and included 155 annual cropped fields. Five hundred and eighty-four mature weed seed samples were collected from all visible uncontrolled weed patches and tested for resistance to Group 1 ACCase, Group 2 ALS and Group 9 glyphosate. The samples represented 44 weed species.

“Compared to the previous 2016 survey, a trend toward increasing ALS inhibitor resistant broadleaf weeds and decreasing herbicide-resistant grasses was observed, with some exceptions,” read the report.

Thirty per cent of all fields surveyed featured wild oats with resistance to the Group 1 and Group 2 herbicides. Among other grassy weeds, 27 per cent of all fields surveyed had Group 1-resistant green foxtail, while 12 per cent included Group 1-resistant yellow foxtail.

Notable among broadleaf weed resistance were kochia (19 per cent Group 2 resistance in all fields surveyed), pale smartweed (10 per cent Group 2 resistance) and redwood pigweed (nine per cent under the same metrics).

Eleven herbicide-resistance weed species were logged, including four not found in the 2016 survey: ALS inhibitor-resistant common chickweed, pale smartweed, Powell amaranth and spiny sowthistle.

Fewer patches, more fields

An interesting factor in the survey, says Geddes, was a decrease in uncontrolled herbicide resistant weed patches compared to the 2016 Manitoba study — even as the number of fields with resistance increased slightly.

“Patch area is representative of site-specific weed management scenarios, whereas the field area is more representative of a broadcast style weed management program where they would be applying a herbicide across, say, an entire field to manage this issue,” Geddes says.

In short: patches and the area they occupied were lower in 2022 than in 2016, but more fields had herbicide-resistant weeds in them overall.

Geddes thinks this is a call to farmers to manage weeds more at the patch level rather than the entire field.

“One big thing that kochia has taught us is that it’s highly patchy and it tends to infest those low lying and saline patch areas first and then move out into the rest of the field,” he said.

“So there’s a lot of opportunity for things like patch management and maybe reducing the cost of integrated weed management by targeting the areas where it makes sense.”

Alberta next

This series of resistance surveys occurs every few years in all three Prairie provinces. They were pioneered by Beckie, who worked at the Agriculture Canada Saskatoon Research and Development Centre in Saskatchewan.

The Alberta survey report is tentatively scheduled for publication later this year, says Geddes.

“The manuscript is almost ready to be submitted. We’re just kind of doing some of the final touches on it, and then it’s up to the review process, which can take several months, but it should be sometime this year.”

Three other Agriculture Canada Lethbridge researchers also participated in the Manitoba survey: Mattea M. Pittman, Kim Brown and Julia Y. Leeson. Other contributors included Manitoba Agriculture in Carman and Agriculture Canada Saskatoon.

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The USDA also issued its quarterly grain stocks report with stocks for soybeans bigger than anticipated, while those for corn were smaller and wheat virtually matched the average trade guess.

USDA forecasts seeded acres for 2026/27

The USDA predicted corn planting intentions at 95.34 million acres, which is down from 98.79 million acres U.S. farmers seeded last year, but less than the market projection of 94.37 million.

The shift away from corn to soybeans was not as large as the trade believed there was going to be.

“That was the big conversation, how many corn acres there was going to be, especially with the beans this year,” said Ryan Etnner, broker with Allendale Inc. in McHenry, Illinois.

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The report placed soybean acres at 84.70 million, up from 81.22 million last year, but short of the market projection of 85.55 million.

Ettner said the total wheat acres caught his eye, with how close the USDA was to the trade guess. The department placed its forecast at 43.78 million acres and trade called for 44.79 million. Last year, farmers planted 45.33 million acres of wheat.

Fertilizer issues could be down the road

The broker added that rising fertilizer prices did not have as great an effect on the switch from corn to soybeans. He said most U.S. farmers apply their fertilizer in the fall and what will go on the fields this spring was largely bought before the Middle East war.

“The bigger concern is fall of this year, if things don’t calm down over there by that point,” Ettner said. “Most people are assuming this is a larger 2027 issue if the war is still going on by the fall.”

USDA Planting Intentions (Millions of acres)

1 acre = 0.405 hectares

Grain stocks

As for grain stocks as of March 1, Ettner said there was some pre-report speculation that total corn could be as high as 9.30 billion bushels.

“The quarterly stocks all came in line. The one concern was ‘what if corn had come in bigger?’ and it didn’t,” Ettner said.

He added that corn stocks were going to be very large simply because of the size of the 2025/26 harvest.

USDA Grain Stocks as of March 1 (Billions of bushels)

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As for the Canadian soybean crush, StatCan has not published any new data since it released its report for the July crush in August 2025. The agency said any numbers have been “suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act.”

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The organization’s Canola Variety Evaluation Trials (CVET), launched in 2024, was originally supposed to span three years, according to Amy Delaquis, the canola group’s research and agronomy manager.

“The hope was that we’d continue efforts in getting more seed companies to be involved in the program, by essentially running a really good program, and that just wasn’t what happened,” Delaquis said.

The program was meant to give farmers unbiased information to compare seed options and choose the best variety tailored for their local conditions. Data offered was regionally specific and independently tested commercial canola varieties. The idea was to help producers get the most out of their seed purchases.

Varieties put up for testing though, were missing some big names.

The 2025 trials spanned eight sites across the province and included 11 Liberty Link and four Roundup ready/Truflex varietys, including checks. They included varieties from BrettYoung, Winfield United Canda, Canterra Seeds, BASF’s InVigor line and newcomer Maizex Seeds.

BASF’s InVigor L340PC — Manitoba’s most popular canola variety, planted on about 33.5 per cent of insured canola acres according the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation — was the Liberty Link check for the trials. Manitoba’s second most popular major variety contender last year, InVigor L356PC, planted on 20.2 per cent of insured canola acres, was also included.

Overall though, only four of Manitoba’s top 10 canola varieties, as recorded by the provincial crop insurance corporation, were part of the trial.

Trials shuttered

After two years, the decision to drop the program didn’t come lightly.

“This program was a tool that allowed for an understanding of which varieties, across companies, are best suited to tackle the challenges farmers are facing on their farms,” Delaquis said.

In a press release sent out on March 27, MCGA directly cited a lack of seed company involvement as the factor that “eroded” the program’s direct value to producers.

However, Delaquis said the problem wasn’t sudden or unexpected.

“It’s always been a challenge in this program to get seed companies to enter their varieties,” she said, adding that most seed companies source data from their own field programs.

The program’s launch was actually delayed a year due to a lack of enthusiasm from seed companies.

A disappointing end to a promising program

The lukewarm reaction from companies has been disappointing to deal with, said Nicolea Dow, chair of MCGA’s research and agronomy committee.

“As farmers, we saw real value in the Manitoba CVET program. It was the last place in Canada for truly independent, side-by-side comparisons of canola varieties,” she said.

Program unlikely to return

Delaquis isn’t optimistic that the program will be making a return any time soon.

“We weren’t able to represent enough varieties that farmers were able to use the data to make good, actionable decisions,” she said.

Instead, Delaquis pointed farmers to the variety evaluation program run by North Dakota State University.

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“Presently, tariffs on peas sit at 30 per cent for all countries (Canada included) and lentils sit at roughly 11 per cent for all countries,” Jeff English, vice president, public affairs for Pulse Canada, said about India’s current tariffs in an email to Glacier FarmMedia on March 30.

For daily markets updates, visit the Western Producer Markets Desk

For some time, India suspended its duties on pulses as a means to reduce food inflation, as domestic supply wasn’t quite enough to meet demand. However, with growing pressure from Indian farmers, the country’s government reimposed the levies in late 2025.

English said Pulse Canada will be in a better position to comment after the Indian government has said where it’s going with its pulse duties.

Lentil, pea prices

Heading into that, there has been little effect on pulse cash prices across Western Canada. Prairie Ag Hotwire cited a one cent increase on old crop Laird lentils, ranging from 11.5 to 25 cents per pound delivered depending on size. However, the Lairds have fallen 26 to 30 cents/lb. over the last 12 months.

Cash prices for the Eston, Richlea and French varieties were unchanged over the last week. Estons were 13 to 21.8 cents/lb. delivered and Richleas at 8.5 to 21.8 cents/lb. They as well have experienced sharp declines since a year ago, with declines between 19.3 to 31.3 cents/lb.

Crimson lentils stepped back 1.3 to 1.5 cents on the week at 14 to 25.5 cents/lb. delivered. Over the last 12 months, Crimsons are down 4.5 to cents/lb.

As for dry peas, the greens dropped 50 cents on the week at C$7.50 to C$10/bu. delivered, while the yellows were unchanged at C$7.75 to C$8.55/bu. Over the year, the green have dropped C$7.50/bu. and the yellows slipped C$2.45.

CEPA negotiations, trade mission

English also commented on the state of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement being negotiated between Canada and India.

“…the launch of negotiations is a positive step towards a new bilateral trade relationship. We look forward to playing an active role during these negotiations to ensure that Canada’s pulse sector can benefit from enhanced trade between our two countries,” he said.

Pulse Canada led a delegation to India from March 1-5 with members of other Canadian pulse organizations. The group met with government officials, traders, millers and other industry members, Pulse Canada said in a March 30 report.

“When we sit down with customers and partners in India, it reinforces that Canada is committed for the long haul. That trust is what helps keep our product moving, even when the market gets complicated,” said Terry Youzwa, chair of Pulse Canada, in the report.

According to the report, the clearest takeaway from the mission was that India will continue to need imported pulses. Industry members said the country typically only has a few months’ worth of pulse supply at a time.

“Our job is to stay connected to the market so we can bring that signal back home. That helps farmers understand where the opportunities are – not just this year, but over the long term,” said Shane Strydhorst, Pulse Canada’s vice chair.

-With files from Geralyn Wichers

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The issue of high-yielding genetics with low straw strength was a particular problem in 2010, 2012 and 2014, when barley and wheat had high production that coincided with severe lodging.

“We had very high production years, lots of moisture and lots of conditions that promoted lodging,” Mitchell Japp, research and extension manager at SaskBarley, said at the recent Top Crop Summit in Saskatoon.

“So at the time, we had relatively poor genetics for lodging, and the straw strength wasn’t there, and so our fertility management was one of the few things that we had to be able to control lodging.”

Controls were promoted, such as increased potassium to improve straw, reduced seeding rates and lowering nitrogen to ensure plants stayed standing and protein stayed low enough for malt barley.

But farmers also started turning to another class of products to help solve the issue: plant growth regulators.

In 2014, Manipulator PGR, with the active ingredient chlormequat chloride, was registered for wheat. Today, products containing that active ingredient include registrations for other cereals crops like barley and oats.

Researchers at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Farm in Saskatchewan performed trials on barley for application timing and effect of the product. Their results were promising.

“They found that it decreased height, decreased lodging and even in the absence of those, sometimes led to a yield increase,” Japp said.

“And certainly if lodging was present, there would be a yield increase.”

However, in 2021, chlormequat chloride was labelled yellow by Keep it Clean for barley, meaning that farmers should be informed when opting for it, and should check with their grain buyer to avoid potential marketing pitfalls. As of its 2026 product advisory, Keep it Clean maintains it as yellow status for malt, feed or food-bound barley.

The use of chlormequat chloride in oats has also sparked considerable controversy in recent years between advocacy groups and millers who have discouraged it and some farmers, who maintain the product has been useful.

Currently, Keep it Clean does not have a caution attached to chlormequat chloride in either oats or wheat.

New PGR products, mixed early results

Also in 2021, a newly released PGR — Moddus, active ingredient trinexapac-ethyl — was trialled. It was found to be effective, although any PGR’s influence on a crop varies depending on location, environmental conditions and variety.

“In 2020, ‘21, and ‘22, there was a lot of really low-producing sites,” Japp noted.

“Very low yielding, high stress, which is not the conditions to use a plant growth regulator in. And so what they saw was a significant yield decrease from the control treatment.”

Other sites had higher yields, but agronomic control methods like lower nitrogen, lowered seed rate and additions of potassium largely seemed to do the same job against lodging.

In 2023, they ran an enhanced growing project with six varieties and four management packages. The third package focused on plant height and included a PGR.

However, it was another dry year, which meant mid-range yield and no “real” lodging pressure , although the PGR did help reduce height.

Pushing nitrogen to force the answer

To really trial the efficacy of the PGR though, Japp wanted to induce lodging.

To do this, they applied nitrogen alongside the PGR at the Indian Head site in 2024 and were granted a cool wet spring, good heat in July and wind and rain in August. These results offered some of the best insights of the project, with clear differences between treatments.

A full rate of Moddus had a notable decrease in lodging compared to the untreated control. Both varieties, CDC Fraser and AAC Connect, responded the same.

In comparison, the other trial sites at Melfort and Prince Albert saw nearly no effect on yield or lodging because they were dealing with dry conditions.

Japp said the key is to start with good genetics and find a good balance between products, whether it’s the right amount of nitrogen for a good yield alongside a PGR, or not using a PGR at all.

Seeding rate should also be considered because a higher rate is good for weed management. Staying economical with the rate is important for yield and lodging.

“I think we can say comfortably that a timely PGR application, in really good growing conditions, can improve both harvest operations and increase yield,” he said.

“If the conditions aren’t optimal, there’s may be no benefit. Maybe you get a slight lodging decrease but not likely yield (improvement). And in the poor conditions, it does remain a (yield) risk, so we’re trying to avoid those risky conditions.”

More information is yet to come because a project is currently underway to predict risk of lodging at an early stage for better indication of the potential benefit in using a PGR in a barley crop.

What Manitoba growers should weigh

Back in 2024, cereal growers in Manitoba had a hard time with lodging and PGR questions flew.

The products’ use is a financial gamble, provincial cereal specialist Anne Kirk said at an agronomy event at Brandon’s Assiniboine College that fall.

“It’s a big input,” she said. “Especially when you’re making that decision if you want to be applying them or not fairly early on in the growing season, when you don’t know if you’re going to have, you know, a large hail event or drought in July or whatnot.”

Producers may consider applying strategically, she noted: on only their best wheat crop, or select acres, although she doesn’t see a lot of producers choosing only patches of their fields to apply.r5ui8

PGRs are not, she cautioned, a product to turn to if your crops are already strained by weather, insects or disease.

“Any sort of like plant stress, you wouldn’t want to be applying a plant growth regulator, because it is a hormone, and it can negatively interact with those other stress hormones,” she said.

Instead, she suggested, they might be a better fit for those crops that are intensely managed, seeded densely and generously fertilized with nitrogen.

— With files from Alexis Stockford

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