Canadian farmers brace for ‘most expensive planting season ever’

An Ontario farmer plants corn near Walton, Ont. in May 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

Josh Boersen filled his corn planter with fertilizer on Thursday. With warm, dry weather on the way this weekend, he expects to get a lot of his crop in the ground over the next few days, but every trip around the field this spring will cost him more money than last year.

“The price of inputs on the farm has been escalating quite a bit over the last 18 months. With the Strait of Hormuz shutdown and the war going on in the Middle East, we’ve definitely seen a sharp increase in our input costs,” said the Perth County grain farmer.

23 per cent of the world’s ammonia fertilizer has been shut down by the Iran War, while even more oil, the main ingredient in diesel fuel, is stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Boersen says what’s happening overseas, has doubled the price he pays for diesel fuel and fertilizer, and he’s not alone.

“From fertilizer prices to diesel, this is probably going to be one of the most expensive crops farmers are planting ever,” said Pierre Petelle, CEO of CropLife Canada.

Petelle estimates it will cost Canadian farmers a record-setting $22.5 billion to plant their crops this spring.

“We don’t like to always cry foul or be complainers about the situation, but farmers are bearing the burden of all this risk, and it’s costing us a significantly larger amount of money to plant,” said Boersen.

So, what can be done about it? Petelle says removing regulatory barriers to the production of fertilizer, fuel, seed genetics and other crop protection tools here in Canada would help.

“We have local companies that have developed a drought resistant type of soybean, another one that has created a healthier oil type of soybean. And the beneficiaries of that have been U.S. farmers, because of the timelines and regulations involved here. There’s a lot that can be done on the input side and making sure that those seed genetics come here to Canada, and get in the hands of farmers, and making sure those crop protection tools are coming here in a timely manner, so that the farmers toolbox is as full as possible,” explained Petelle.

“I know there’s hundreds of millions of dollars of investment waiting for the ethanol producers to invest, to build, to add production here in Ontario. So, if we can improve those policies that allow our end users to build their capacity, that will help us weather these storms,” added Boersen.

Boersen says he’ll do his best to find efficiencies in planting this season, but fertilizer and fuel are two things he can’t control and must use to get his seeds in the ground.

“The famous line is, we buy at retail, sell it wholesale, and pay the freight both ways. That’s never been more true than in 2026,” said Boersen.