Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — If the amount of snowfall in Saskatchewan is any indication, the province’s lentil crop will be in good shape this year.
Jordan Fehr, a trader for Simpson Seeds in Moose Jaw, Sask., said the province’s snowpack, which he claimed was the largest in 10 years, will provide healthy amounts of subsoil moisture when seeding begins in a few weeks.
“We need dry seeding and we need some rain,” Fehr added. “We haven’t seen rain in years. We’ve had some good snow … but if we can get the sun to come out here, guys will go into the field, and then we can get some moisture.”
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Statistics Canada released its March principal field crops report on March 12, projecting 2025-26 Saskatchewan lentil acres at 3.585 million. While that’s down 1.7 per cent from the current marketing year, it consists 85.9 per cent of lentil acres in Canada. However, the data was collected before United States tariffs on Canadian imports came into effect.
Fehr believes StatCan overestimated the carryout for lentils, especially for small green varieties, in previous years. While pressured from other factors, he thinks lentil prices in Western Canada are less than what they should be. Prairie Ag Hotwire reported delivered bids in Western Canada for Eston and Laird lentils ranging from 34.5 to 55 cents per pound as of March 24, down three to five cents from last week and 24 to 30 cents from one year ago.
“By April last year, there were essentially no Estons left anywhere in the country. Little trickles came through the summer, but almost everybody’s bins were completely empty by June,” he said.
Small green lentils are currently being purchased at around 40 cents/lb. and Fehr anticipates 15 to 20 per cent more seeded acres for small green varieties than last year.
“Green lentil prices are starting to pull back to be more in line with new crop pricing. Demand’s pretty slow and a lot of buyers are hoping they can wait until new crop before they buy much more. But there are a lot of markets that do need to buy before then,” he added. “My guess is that we’re going to see green lentil prices continue to slide until these markets, at the last minute, need to buy in.”
However, Fehr said problems transporting shipping containers and rail equipment to Saskatchewan will prevent quick shipments coming out of the province.
With tariffs being placed by India and the U.S. on potential lentil imports, European buyers are looking towards Canada.
“I’ve talked to a number of them who had some new crop on the books with American suppliers. But now are nervous about what Trump might do,” Fehr said. “They’re looking to Canada a bit, but they want to see what happens.”
