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Canadian Canola use in USA biofuels could be at risk due to changes to the Clean Fuel Production Credit changes. Details in this Real Agriculture Article
This leads me to worry about the canola market over the next year and more. Also a lot of canola meal goes to USA for feed use as well so that could be impacted if tariffs do come into play.
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Here is a video from last week talking about when you need to buy Fertlizer for this season and the risk of not buying now: https://youtu.be/gKtb1DHAq2E?si=ftvxN_D2RV9PxWtR
I love the idea of ultra early seeding. Remember when Brian talks ultra early he is talking Feb/ March, here is an article on it: https://www.topcropmanager.com/sponsored/maximizing-cereal-yields/
We have had a few customers blend 2 solid stem durums for dryland use. AAC Grainland Durum is best when very dry (my pick for most years in S AB/SK) and AAC Stronghold Durum is best medium to wet areas (over 40-50 bu it is better vs some others). So, to gain standability and top end yield as well as protect in lower yield situation some people are blending half and half of each! Personally on our dryland I would just use AAC Grainland because we budget about 20-30 bu per ac for yields for our light dryland. Last season we did get 53 bu avg with Grainland though!  Barley is one of the crops we have later bookings for usually, but in recent years it's surprising how well it can fit into a rotation and price point when feed prices are good. Here are some varieties and where they fit.
Barley Agronomy Barley Plant Population: On dryland we see a wide range of plant populations from 12-28 plants per square foot target (I'd suggest about 20 plants). On irrigation we see 20 to 30 plants per square foot with 28 being pretty common. Where we see some changes are with European types and Bill Coors 100 where people are dropping plant populations lower because they tiller more. So 20-25 plants seems to be where people are going to on those. Barley PGR's We love to use PGR's on barley. Generally we like to use Modus on barley, its window is tight so make sure you are at the right timing: https://www.syngenta.ca/productsdetail/moddus/multiple%20crops#application We usually like to spray it as a separate pass from herbicides, although you can tank mix. Sometimes we will even do 2 passes or 1.5 passes in crop depending on the lodging risk. Here is a link to a lodging webinar we hosted: https://youtu.be/iFk9Y4YL4pg?si=WfWRV8nLLqSn8SLR Barley Fertility Generally we make sure there is about 250-275+ lbs per ac of nitrogen on our barley crops. This past year we had high residual N in the soil and we do variable rate so here was one fields example:
Some years and fields we will place a lower rate of N at seeding so the tanks on the drill empty at the same time as the seed and then we come back and spin spread on at the 3-4 leaf stage and water the nitrogen in. This article below showcases old research on advanced barley management's impact on yield, and I think it would be even more with the higher yielding European varieties: https://canadianagronomist.ca/9-3-higher-feed-barley-yield-with-advanced-agronomic-practices/ And a barley fertility article comparing malts to feeds: https://www.topcropmanager.com/does-feed-barley-really-require-more-n-than-malt/ Barley Pests Thrips can impact barley and we have seen them in the boot stage of the crop: https://www.syngenta.ca/pests/insects/thrips--barley/barley Barley can be more prone to disease vs other cereals. This is a crop where I recommend 100% of the time to seed treat as smut can be controlled this way. Net & Spot Blotch, Scald are main diseases of barley: Here are pictures: https://www.countygp.ab.ca/en/living-in-our-community/Pest%20And%20Disease/Barley-Scald.pdf A great disease diagnostic video for barley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2supHVg2Plc Barley Agronomy from the UK I was sent this link about barley agronomy & seeding rates from the UK for spring barley there and about tiller retention and found it interesting: https://lgseeds.co.uk/barley-yield-is-all-about-tiller-retention/     I feel that the threat of 25% tariffs have already had a long term impact on Canada. It will take some time to sort out the impact for farming for this season and next.
Thoughts:
Shawn Haney of RealAgriculture was in Cambridge Ontario for a SeCan Event Feb 4th, and talked about politics and trade. A few key points from this presentation:
Here is a link to a Real Agriculture article published yesterday regarding trade perspectives: https://www.realagriculture.com/2025/01/new-data-quantifies-canadian-farmers-concern-about-the-impact-of-tariffs-and-prospect-of-a-trade-war/ Lauren Comin of Seeds Canada spoke at the Alberta BC Seed Growers AGM Feb 5 2025. I have some images below from her presentation and I have said similar things to what she says. Here is my takeaway.
What do we do? (Gregs opinion)
If you don't agree with me, what is the solution? Earlier this year I wrote a blog post about this topic asking questions: https://www.stampseeds.com/blog/seed-value-chain Shawn Haney was in Cambridge Ontario for a SeCan Event Feb 4th, and talked about politics and trade. A few key points:
The Durum Summit in Swift Current has some agronomy and breeding sessions. Top takeaways:
At the Durum Summit in Swift Current it was said that most events talk about durum as part of wheat, but here durum takes main stage! Marlene Boersch mercantileventure.com/about/ spoke on market trends in Durum A summary:
I attended the Durum Summit in Swift Current SK, an event bringing industry, farmers, buyers, and breeders together. Keven Hursh talked about the state of the durum industry in Canada and Canadian agriculture.
Mediocre news on the water forecasting for 2025. Most snowpacks are at the lower part of the averages so far. Lots can change as most snow pack comes in February & March so lots can change yet. Reservoirs came into winter at higher levels vs the previous year, so that will help with 2025 water supply. John Pomeroy was speaking at the Irrigated Crop Production Update in Lethbridge about changes to water patterns for Southern Alberta. Based on his research he thinks
I also think water efficient crops like hybrid fall rye, winter wheat, winter triticale will become more common to take advantage of early moisture and flowering before the hottest days of the year. Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting Venture Inc has an update on peas and lentils showing global trends and outlooks: https://saskpulse.com/resources/outlook-for-canadian-peas-lentils-2/
I was at a cover crop workshop put on by APG this fall and someone asked why don't you just seed a fall crop for soil health and the response from Ken Coles was yes why not. I do find it interesting how simple it could be to ad diversity in more ways than one. This research below is tied to nutrient cycling in winter and surprisingly there is more activity than you would expect in frozen soil: https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/winter-cold-doesnt-stop-all-fertilizer-emissions-new-research-shows/  I haven't listened to this episode from Growing the Future's podcast but I like the writeup about it so plan on listening. It's write up talked about self worth, perspective, and being tied to the business. I sure love the stories of businesses it seems!: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/growing-the-future/id1481269255?i=1000683520958
Cody Garrett with Scoular told me that they were bidding $6.25-$6.35 PU for rye for March. When I put that number in to my net return charts, on irrigation its about 10% more net vs a CWRS and on dryland its about 50-100% more net return vs a CWRS depending on yield differential and when rains come. They are also looking for #1 flax brown or yellow Cell: (306) 951-7977 [email protected]  This week I wanted to focus on forages, as a large % of our sales are for forage use. They are used in many different ways so I wanted to provide some ideas of how they are bing used. Forage Flexibility Forages is a broad group and is a large % of our sales. From alfalfa and grasses to fall triticale, polycrop blends and corn. Blair wrote a nice blog post showing some options in every forage type: https://www.stampseeds.com/blog/cover-crops-and-forages
What is a Polycrop? Polycrop is a trending name for cover crop forages that have a diverse blend of crop types to allow for diversity of growth and regrowth. We offer custom blends of these Click for more info on Polycrops from the Beef Cattle Research Council Spring Triticale for Drought Tolerance We have 2 newer spring triticale varieties available this season. Triticale has a larger / stronger root system vs other crops so it can tolerate sandy or dry conditions better vs some crops. We have an awnless spring triticale called TriCal Surge that is perfect for all types of forage use. We also have the brand new AB Sunbeam spring trit (awned) and is perfect for silage forage or grain and stands well vs other triticale.  Sales Update
Chuck Penner with Left Field Market Research www.leftfieldcr.com talked about mustard, canola, durum and wheat markets mid January 2025. Slides below. Here are some takeaways
Wheatland Conservation area had a great presentation about mustard seeding rates, nitrogen rates and varietal yields. Some conclusions from the slides below:
There has been some pretty big advancements in mustard breeding in the past few years. Brown Elite Hybrid Mustard & Composite AAC Yellow 80 Yellow Mustard have been big changes in mustard varieties. In the pipeline:
We work alongside Imperial Seeds to bring you the best cover crop and forage products (Cover Crops) for your farm or ranch! Here are some forage and blends that are favourites of our customers:
Corn has become a large part of our forage sales with very early to long season options: : https://www.stampseeds.com/corn.html Blair had a trial with an irrigated win as well: https://www.stampseeds.com/silage-trials.html Forage blends We have had customers blending triticale or a smooth awned barley with forage peas to maximize yield potential and quality Can also add in fall rye or fall triticale to the mix to give grazing potential once forage is taken off to maximize potential on that field with fall regrowth Forages available for blends:
A big publication is always the regional variety trials comparing varieties across the province. We use this to gain perspective vs varieties we know and understand and to compare to what we are seeing in our own yield trials. https://www.seed.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rvt-spring2025.pdf 
Structure and communication is critical in farm businesses, take a look at this article outlining some ideas around farm management and planning: Article on X here
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AuthorsBlair Balog - Seed Specialist at Stamp Seeds Archives
December 2025
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