Saskatchewan and Alberta canola producers are going head-to-head
A new ag competition is pitting farmers against one another.
Bayer’s Battle of the Bushels sees 15 selected canola growers (14 from Saskatchewan and one from Alberta) seed a 40-acre plot with either DK401TL or DK400TL, plus a BUTEO start seed treatment.
Bayer reps visit the competitors’ farms during the growing season to validate certain information.
Aside from that, it’s up to the producer to achieve the highest yield.
“It’s a fairly wide open competition. You need to submit your location, so you can’t move it around. The rep comes out and confirms and feeds with you, and after that, it’s just the most bushels win,” Nathan Kuhn, a participating farmer from Unity, Sask., told paNOW. “So you hope you picked a good spot. I know a few of the contestants had some drowning out issues and of course it’s going to be all kinds of weather related issues. But as far as rules go, it’s pick 40 acres, submit it, and grow the most bushels.”
A live leaderboard tracks each farmer’s progress and anticipated yield.
Kuhn, for example, started with a pre-burn of Roundup Transorb HC before seeding DK401TL.
His projected yield is 55 bushels per acre.
Each farmer seeded in May, with harvesting dates ranging in September and October.
As of July 29, Borden, Sask. farmer Lucas Saunders is in the lead with a projected yield of 87 bushels per acre using DK401TL and an estimated harvest date of Sept. 23.
For comparison, the national canola yield averaged 44.7 bushels per acre in 2025, Stats Canada data showed.
And Bayer’s social media channels provide updates on farm visits.
On July 24, reps visited Garth George – the lone Alberta participant – at his farm in Marwayne.
“I’d hope to win but there’s a pretty stiff competition,” George said. “The other farmers are pretty professional as well.”