A portion of those exports were straw choppers and weed seed control units, manufactured by Redekop at its plant near Saskatoon.

Redekop has farmer customers in Montana, North Dakota, Kansas and other states who want a better chopper on their combine. The Redekop straw chopper cuts straw into fine pieces and evenly distributes the residue across the field, which is desirable for growers.

“We tend to focus on small grains and the higher volume of residue, where you have lots of straw,” Trevor Thiessen, chief executive officer of Redekop Manufacturing, said while sitting at a booth at the Commodity Classic, a trade show held in Denver March 2-4.

U.S. sales growth

Redekop sales to the U.S. have increased in the last five years as word spread about the straw choppers and Redekop’s weed seed destructor.

However, sales were soft in 2024 due to the downturn in the ag equipment market.

“Farmers were hesitant to spend a lot of money … 2024 was a hard year for a lot of equipment guys,” Thiessen said.

Last year was challenging, but 2025 could be more difficult for Redekop and other Canadian manufacturers.

U.S. president Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from Canada March 4, although the tariff rate and implementation date may have changed by the Western Producer’s March 10 press time.

A spokesperson for another manufacturer of ag equipment on the Prairies, who also attended the Commodity Classic, said his company acted before March 4 to avoid the tariffs. The Manitoba business moved machinery across the border this winter and should have sufficient stock in the U.S. for many months of sales.

Shipping ahead of tariffs

Redekop took similar action in February.

“We shipped pretty much 98 per cent of our (U.S.) distributor’s order already,” Thiessen said.

Exporting farm equipment to the U.S. has become a larger part of Saskatchewan’s economy.

Sales climbed by $500 million from 2019-23, reaching $834 million in 2023.

“There certainly is growth in the agricultural machinery and equipment exports from Saskatchewan specifically to the U.S.,” said Peter Siarkos, director of manufacturing and technology with the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership, which helps provincial businesses sell their products to the world.

Exports of ag equipment have created strong relationships between Saskatchewan firms and American buyers, but explaining the impact of tariffs and who will cover the cost can get awkward.

“When I talk to U.S. farmers and customers, I’m not sure everyone fully understands that the importer, i.e. the U.S. farmer, is the one who is going to have to pay the premium,” Thiessen said.

Who absorbs the tariffs?

To maintain American sales, Redekop and other Canadian makers of ag equipment may absorb a portion of the 25 per cent tariff. The customer will take on the rest.

“I think we’ll be fine.… Maybe we take a margin hit (on U.S. sales) for a period of time, but it’s not going to cripple our business.”

As of March 2025, it’s impossible to predict Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S for the next four years. It could be OK, bad or horrific.

If tariffs do stick around for years, Thiessen is considering a branch plant or a partnership to do some manufacturing in the U.S.

“We’ll make these core components, you assemble,” he said, describing one scenario.

“Set up a (U.S.) assembly plant, which would (maybe) get us past the tariff.”

Such decisions are a few years down the road, depending on what happens with trade and tariffs.

In the shorter term, Redekop Manufacturing wants to diversify sales to other parts the world. It has set up a company in South America to sell straw choppers and weed seed destructors to farmers in Argentina and Brazil, Thiessen said.

“(We’re in the) second year of testing in Brazil and the first full season of selling in Argentina.”

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Kip Eideberg, vice-president of government and industry relations with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), said it’s very challenging right now to talk to Republicans about the benefits of trade.

“It is a frustration … that there seems to be precious few Republicans on Capitol Hill who are for free and fair trade,” said Eideberg while standing beside the AEM booth at the Commodity Classic trade show in Denver March 3.

“This used to be a Republican core issue (free trade). Where have all those Republicans gone?”

‘Tariffs are taxes’

Despite the frustrations, the AEM and other groups continue to lobby politicians and members of Trump’s cabinet about the danger of tariffs.

The AEM, which represents manufacturers of farm and construction machinery is still trying to talk with politicians and deliver a clear message.

“Our position is very simple. Tariffs are taxes. They’re taxes on American manufacturers. They’re taxes on American farmers…. This is no way to bolster U.S. manufacturing,” said Eideberg, who has been listed as one of the top lobbyists in Washington for the last six years.

Eideberg and others are still able to get access to policy-makers and powerful people in the American government.

At the Commodity Classic in Denver, he walked the trade show floor with U.S. agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins.

His message to her was that tariffs on Canada and other countries are damaging for American farmers.

“These tariffs are going to make all of this great (farm) equipment, on display here, more expensive. That will lead to fewer American jobs.”

Listening to farmers?

Rollins, who spoke to the media at the Commodity Classic, said she’s listening to such messages. She has only been in the role of ag secretary for a couple of weeks but has met with hundreds of farmers.

Many of them are worried about tariffs and the consequences for America’s ag industry, she said.

“That is my role,” Rollins said.

“To ensure that those concerns are heard, effectively.”

That’s positive for groups like AEM, but Eideberg believes that Trump is hell bent on imposing duties on Canada, Mexico and other countries.

The U.S. government will proceed with tariffs on a wide range of goods and products, which will have economic consequences.

The American public and the economy will have to suffer before Trump changes his mind, Eideberg said.

“I think the one thing that’s going to perhaps ensure that the tariffs come off or are not fully implemented is a recession,” he said.

“Tariffs are inflationary and are going to drive up (inflation)…. It’s a shame we have to rely on something like a recession … unfortunately.”

Another possibility is a re-negotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, provided President Trump can tell his supporters he got a “win” in the new deal.

—Updated – adds photo of Kip Eideberg

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PTx Trimble, which has its engineering and technology division in Winnipeg, received the Davidson Prize from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Darcy Cook, head of autonomous solutions for PTx, was in Denver to receive the prize.

“The Davidson (prize) is awarded each year … for leading engineering technologies that impact different farming operations,” said Cook.

PTx Trimble, which designs and builds precision technology for farmers, is owned by Agco.

The winning technology from PTx was the OutRun autonomous grain cart. It’s a retrofit kit that can be installed in existing tractors to make them autonomous.

“They operate entirely without a driver to execute the grain cart task,” Cook said in a hallway at the Colorado Convention Center.

“This works with an iPad (used by) the operator in the combine. They can command the autonomous tractor pulling the grain cart through three different tasks during harvest”:

• The tractor and grain cart can be filled with grain next to the combine, on the go.

• A farmer can send the grain cart to a truck, for unloading.

• It can be “staged” or placed in a certain location in a field to wait for the next load of grain.

Labour shortages are a major issue on grain farms across North America, so the OutRun autonomous grain cart is a partial solution for that problem, Cook said.

The technology is now on the market in the United States and Canada. In the short term, PTx will focus its sales efforts on corn and soybean producers in the U.S. Midwest.

The OutRun autonomous grain cart was one of three innovations that received the Davidson Prize.

CNH America was recognized for its large square baler technology, which automates key baling functions and ensures consistent bale quality.

Bondioli & Pavesi Inc. received the prize for its electronic data interchange driveshaft, a technology that improves power transmission efficiency.

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That would also be good for Canadian grain and oilseed prices if it happens.

The highest corn prices so far this year occurred during the first two days of January, and they have been heading lower since.

The odds of those prices remaining that high through spring is slim based on data compiled from the last couple of decades, according to Ed Usset, grain marketing economist with the University of Minnesota.

“In 16 of 20 years the corn market found a way to take out those highs set in January,” he told delegates attending the 2024 Commodity Classic.

Soybean prices are less reliable than corn, but there is also a good chance that market will take out the January high. It has done so in 17 of the last 20 years.

So, is corn heading back to US$5 per bushel?

“I don’t guarantee anything, but I think this is strong evidence that it could happen,” said Usset.

He has “no clue” what could cause the rally. He could offer up 10 reasons and it would be the 11th that would trigger the bull run.

But the upshot is that farmers with unpriced corn or soybeans in their bins might want to hold on a little longer and wait for better prices this spring.

He also thinks there is reason to be long-term bullish on grains and oilseeds because of the exploding renewable diesel industry.

Sixteen proposed new U.S. soybean crush plants will create more than 600 million bushels of new annual demand for the crop.

“I know things feel very bearish right now, but I like to think there is potential for this to create some turmoil in the market,” said Usset.

“This is an echo of the boom that occurred 15 years ago in the ethanol industry.”

That boom bolstered the price of corn, which in turn elevated prices for soybeans, wheat and just about every other crop farmers grow.

That begs the question — should farmers change their marketing strategy once the return to a bull markets arrives?

The short answer is no, said Usset.

He is a firm believer in growers knowing their cost of production and pricing 80 percent of their grain with pre- and post-harvest marketing efforts rather than accepting the harvest price.

Iowa corn growers who used that strategy achieved an average 37 cent per bu. premium over growers who took the harvest price between 1989 and 2002.

“That’s 37 cents a bu. on every bushel of corn produced over a 34-year period,” said Usset.

“You can see the advantage of pulling together pre- and post-harvest marketing.”

For soybeans, the advantage was nearly $1 per bu. and for hard red spring wheat in the Red River Valley it was 27 cents.

Usset analyzed the same data during the “golden age” of the ethanol boom between 2007 and 2013, comparing it to the seven-year periods before and after the boom.

The average price of Iowa corn during the seven-year boom was higher than the maximum price in the seven-years before and after the boom.

“That’s some good times,” he said.

The important thing to note is that the grower who used pre- and post-harvest marketing strategies outperformed those who took the harvest price in all three of those periods, said Usset.

—Sean Pratt writes for the Western Producer.

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Glacier FarmMedia — U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack says the United States is trying to regain its competitive edge in world agricultural markets.

He told delegates attending the 2024 Commodity Classic conference that for many years the U.S. had better transportation logistics than its competitors and that gave the country a price advantage in overseas markets.

But that competitive advantage has evaporated due to large infrastructure investments by Brazil and Argentina.

“That price difference over time has disappeared,” said Vilsack.

It’s why the U.S. “doubled down” with the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure deal in 2021, a bill that will result in improved roads and bridges, ports and locks and dams.

But those investments will take time to come to fruition. In the meantime, the U.S. is going to attempt to boost exports through increased funding of export promotion programs, said Vilsack.

Todd Hultman, lead analyst for DTN, told farmers that spot corn futures will likely trade in the range of $4 to $5.25 per bushel in 2024-25, while soybeans will likely bounce around between $11 and $14 per bu.

His colleague John Baranick, DTN’s ag meteorologist, told U.S. growers to expect a hot spring and summer.

He is forecasting wet spring conditions in the northern and eastern portions of the country, while the summer will by dry throughout much of the Plains region.

Arlan Suderman, chief economist with StoneX, said Brazil’s soybean crop is getting bigger.

The company surveyed its farmer customers in that country, and they indicated that the crop could be 151.6 million tonnes, up 1.2 million tonnes from its previous forecast.

Corn production is pegged at 124.5 million tonnes, unchanged from the previous forecast, considering growers just finished planting the second crop of corn.

Suderman said a lot of those Brazilian soybeans will be heading to China, which appears to be stockpiling a wide variety of crops.

“So why are they buying?” he said during a live taping of the U.S. Farm Report at the 2024 Commodity Classic.

One theory is that the government is buying a large amount of corn and other crops from its growers to prop up domestic prices.

That is also creating an inviting environment for imports. But those imports are increasingly being supplied by Brazil and Ukraine, while U.S. crops are slowly being squeezed out, said Suderman.

Chip Flory, editor emeritus of Pro Farmer and host of AgriTalk, wonders if China is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan.

Suderman thinks that is a distinct possibility. Chinese president Xi Jinping has stated that he is going to bring Taiwan back into the fold during his tenure in office and he is 70 years old.

Flory wonders if the political landscape is setting up for another trade war between China and the U.S. if Donald Trump is re-elected as U.S. president.

If that happens, growers should prepare for another round of direct subsidies to offset the loss of that market.

Carah Hart, president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, spoke about the threat that electric vehicles pose to radio broadcasters.

Car manufacturers say electromagnetic interference in electric vehicles causes static and limited coverage with AM radio.

Despite mitigation solutions, some EV manufacturers have stopped putting AM radios in their cars.

Hart said that is having a huge detrimental impact for farm broadcasters around the country.

She encouraged delegates attending the general session of the Commodity Classic to support the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require access to AM broadcast stations in motor vehicles.

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Glacier FarmMedia — Day one of the 2024 Commodity Classic is in the books and a few interesting themes emerged from the annual gathering of U.S. corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers.

U.S. farmers are clearly annoyed about a number of new pesticide regulations.

Growers felt blindsided by a federal district court ruling in Arizona vacating the 2020 registrations for a variety of dicamba products used on 50 million acres of U.S. corn and soybeans.

The ruling meant growers couldn’t use the product for the 2024 growing season.

However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since ruled that growers can use existing stocks of the product that were packaged, labeled and shipped prior to the Feb. 6 court ruling.

That is a big relief to the country’s soybean and cotton growers, but they wonder what’s in store for 2025 and beyond.

Farmers are also concerned about the EPA’s response to numerous other court rulings that determined the regulator has continually failed to meet its Endangered Species Act obligations.

Farm groups say the EPA’s proposed Herbicide Strategy, which will bring registrations into compliance with the act, is going to cost them a fortune.

A survey conducted by the American Soybean Association (ASA) indicates 80 percent of producers would not comply with the EPA’s proposal and would face “moderate to extreme” costs to become compliant.

“The proposal would likely require billions of dollars for farmers across the country to implement and could prevent some farmers from using certain herbicides entirely,” the ASA stated in a press release.

A petition it circulated collected 1,500 signatures from growers, applicators and other agricultural stakeholders calling for withdrawal of the proposal.

Soy growers were pleased that the EPA recently announced it has extended the deadline to finalize the strategy by three months to August 30, giving it more time to consider their criticism of the strategy.

Another big topic of conversation at the convention is the 2024 Farm Bill, an omnibus package of legislation that covers everything from school nutrition programs to farm safety nets.

Grower groups are lobbying hard for a bill that “does no harm” to crop insurance programs and sets higher reference prices for crops that will trigger direct payments sooner under today’s falling price environment.

The U.S. Congress is still debating and designing the bill, which was originally supposed to be in place for 2023.

There was plenty of talk about markets at the conference as well.

Al Kluis, with Kluis Commodity Advisors, had good news and bad news for farmers.

The good news is that he thinks corn and soybean futures prices have bottomed out, at least temporarily.

The bad news is that if the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s yield and acreage forecasts for 2024-25 are correct, it doesn’t bode well for prices, especially for corn.

“We could see extremely low prices in the fall,” he said.

The soybean outlook doesn’t look nearly as bad, and he is extremely excited about the long-term future for that crop due to looming demand from the sustainable aviation fuel industry.

PepsiCo and Walmart talked about their US$120 million joint venture to support sustainable agriculture in the U.S. and Canada.

The program aims to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices on more than two million acres of farmland in the U.S. and Canada, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by four million tonnes by 2030.

Monitor the pages of The Western Producer and other Glacier FarmMedia publications for full stories on these and other topics from the 2024 Commodity Classic.

––Sean Pratt writes for the Western Producer. 

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