Combine to Customer: Bridging the Gap

Mar 13, 2026

Every fall, Canadian farmers harvest their cereal crops without knowing which market the grain will end up in. It might become bread in Bangladesh, cookies in Colombia, granola bars in the U.S., noodles in Indonesia, or beer in China.

Combine to Customer helps bridge that gap, by linking Canadian farmers to the needs of more than 80 international markets that rely on their high-quality wheat, barley, and oats. Hosted by Cereals Canada, this popular, farmer-focused program brings growers from across Canada together to explore a key question: What keeps global buyers coming back to Canadian cereals?

Connecting Farmers to Global Customers’ Needs

For more than 50 years, the experts at Cereals Canada have built strong, trusted relationships with international customers. Through hands-on programming, technical support, and in-market missions, they have learned what buyers value the most—consistent quality, reliability, and performance—and they bring those insights back to the Canadian value chain.

“Combine to Customer gives farmers a clear window into what international buyers expect from Canadian cereals,” says Lisa Nemeth, director of market support and training at Cereals Canada. “When growers see the global impact of what they produce, it strengthens the connection between on‑farm decisions and global market success.”

During three immersive days at Cereals Canada, participants experience the six technical facilities firsthand. They observe how grain quality is tested and verified; they learn what millers look for; they see, feel, and taste how Canadian wheat performs in premium breads, noodles, and pasta; and they get an inside look at the market support, market access, and advocacy work undertaken by Cereals Canada and the value chain.

At the end of the program, farmers return home with a deeper understanding of how Canadian grains are positioned as premium products, and the strength of the organization supporting the global markets that rely on them.

“I had no idea how much work goes on behind the scenes to promote and protect our markets,” says Emiley Saunders, a farmer from Borden, Saskatchewan, and 2026 Combine to Customer participant. “This program really showed me why quality matters and why buyers around the world trust Canadian wheat.”

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.