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On Field Thoughts: Crop Harvests, Tariff talks and The Push to Prepare for Winter and Beyond
by Larry Wegner, MFGA board alumni and Wall of Fame Inductee
As the 2025 crop harvest goes forward past the halfway harvested mark, my conversations seem to suggest that there seem to be two prevailing results:
1. On the better soil the crops are good or at least better than expected and,
2. On the lighter or poorer crop ground, we see a crop of half of the crop on better soil.
This all goes to water retention or the ablitity of the soil to capture and hold moisture in the soil. Certain regions received rain earlier than others, and some types of soil have a limited capacity for retaining moisture. But, we can fix this by adding organic matter. The simplest way to do this is by grazing bales in the lighter soil.
On our farm this year we have patch work of green oasis spread across the farm in sea of dried-up forages. It goes to prove the adage that water is the first and most important of the nutrients required for growing plants. You can have all the other nutrients balanced for the plants to grow and be healthy, but we need the right amount of water first.
As producers, it's easy for us to become focused on the little things that influence our environment. Sometimes, we need to stop and look over the horizon. I follow producers from all around the world online. I enjoy seeing how producers in other areas of the world deal with the same problems we deal with. There is always more than one way to solve a problem.
So far, the new tariffs introduced in the United States haven't had much impact on us at our farm and others in my network—and hopefully, that remains the case. But, from my take, it has been six months of confusion for nothing. I recently met and talked with a group of Regenerative producers from Australia (they were touring Regen Ag producers in Western Canada), and they too could not understand the Tarriff goal on their country. One more thing we had in common.
Now, with abundant supply of crops, the price has dropped off the charts and below the cost of production. It is hard for any producer to forward market their next crop for a loss; they are dreaming of locking in a breakeven price. There is aid coming for the USA ag producers but that is not until September, October 2026. The USA can make payments to crop producers this year to keep them in business. But the crop inventory surplus is still there and still needs marketing, thereby kicking the can down the road.
In Canada, the main cash crop for annual crop production has been canola. On top of the tariff tilt with China, in the last few years, canola has been paying the bills and paying to grow a rotation (wheat, oats, barley) crop to reduce disease pressure. When I sit back and think about the market price on canola, I am pleasantly surprised that it has not dropped farther than it has. There has been talk about using canola and soybeans for biofuel. We already use corn and wheat for ethanal to mix into gasoline. Biofuel is planned to be incorporated into or used as a substitute for diesel fuel. I do have to question the ethics of “Food for Fuel” …do we no longer have hungry people to feed? Do we change the mantra from “Farmers feed the world” to, “Farmers power the world.”
Another question I have about doing these practices is this the best use of energy? The use of calories of energy into a product to calories of energy out of a product. How many calories of energy go into producing canola, to produce biofuel and, in turn, how many calories of energy will that biofuel produce? In my view, diesel fuel will produce cheaper calories of energy. In my view we as Canadians need to have this discussion before we start putting our own and government money into these projects.
Science is out there, but no one is talking about this. I am not against value adding, I believe we as a producers should be encouraging value adding and making use of the by-produces in every way we can, up valuing all we can keeps the money here in Canada.
The livestock market is hot and getting hotter every day. Now is the time to plan how to stay in the beef business when it cycles back to falling markets like the annual crop production is now. All ag produces run on cycles of supply and demand, high production and low production, profit, and loss. Producers will often say when the returns are high, “this time it will be different” and when it crashes back down will say “Please give me one more chance at high price and I will not spend it all on new equipment.”
When we look at the beef cycle, we see that we have finished the consolidation phase and have now entered the expansion stage of the cycle.
The demand for beef has been holding out well and should remain strong as long as the economy holds on. If the consumers restrict their beef purchases because of personal finances, we will see a new reality. From my conversations with ag lenders in the area, they are lending to a few young producers for cattle purchases, all these new producers are coming in with cattle experience from home and are adding to the family operation. Overall, we are still seeing many older producers leaving the industry and few producers stepping up to replace them.
Despite the beef market boom, over last five years we have seen many pastures and hay fields broken up for annual crop production. I strongly believe that 20 to 30 per cent of these acres should be put back into forages, primarily to maintain the cow herds to improve soil health, reduce disease and weed pressure. Of course, that raises the other side of the equation, if that put back were to occur, would there be enough forage seeds to plant 20 per cent of annual crop land to forage?
At our local grazing club out of Lenore,, the farm tour is always the highlight each year.. As part of these annual tours, we tour around our area to see what local producers are doing and trying out. We also visit with neighbors and, of course, consume a few barley pops to avoid dehydration.
A few years ago, I met a no-till producer who, after 25 years, was not happy with his soil health journey. He wanted to see bigger soil health gains, and he thought that he needed to add a legume forage to his rotation. He has been happy with the soil’s response to a seed once and harvest for the next three crops. In his mix he has 30lbs of fall rye, 5lbs of hairy vetch, 20lbs of oats, 3-5lbs of millet, 2-3lbs of each meadow bromegrass and orchard grass and 3-5lbs of alfalfa.
On year one he does a chemical burn off of spring growth and directs the seed the blend in with a starter fertilizer. Late July or early August a neighbor cuts and bales the crop or cut it for silage (silage seem to work better). In the second year, rye and hairy vetch are harvested for feed or seed in early July. After three to four years, hay is cut in July, then a chemical burn down is used before planting the following spring when the land returns to rotation. This has been a win-win deal for the annual no-till cropper and the cow/calf producer next door.
Now is the time to sit down with paper and pencils and work out on paper how you are going to make your operation more profitable and survive the current crop market downturn. Remember no one has the right answer for your operation but by reaching out to leading producers in your area, government agencies (MB AG, MASC) research focused groups (BCRC, Ag Canada, Universities) you can improve your own knowledge. If you are facing challenges, you cannot expect better results by doing the same thing repeatedly, as many producers tend to do. We must be proactive in our surroundings, not reactive. We need to take charge of our world.
Please remember to reach out to others in this busy season, to say hi how they are doing. If you need to talk to someone, please reach out to the groups in the province that have farmer hot lines. You are not alone dealing with it all.
Hope to see you all at the 2025 MFGA Regen Ag Conference November 12-13, 2025, at the Vic Inn in Brandon. It looks like another awesome agenda and the MFGA conference is always a great venue and opportunity for discussions and catch up with farmers interested in learning more about things you want to learn more about.
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