The Manitoba farmer has dodged rising nitrogen fertilizer prices — he pre-bought last fall — but if costs continue to climb, he’ll be seeking more soybeans for 2027.
The crop doesn’t require much nitrogen fertilizer, unlike the wheat and corn Rempel is currently spreading across his land near Landmark.
Nitrogen fertilizer prices have jumped 30 to 40 per cent in Western Canada since the United States and Israel attacked Iran earlier this year, according to Farm Credit Canada. Around one-third of global seaborne fertilizer ships through the now-blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
Farm diesel prices have also skyrocketed, from $1.30 to roughly $2 per litre. Agriculture experts expect grocery prices to jump over the next year.
For Rempel, whose diesel-powered tractors are in fields, the ballooned costs have already appeared.
“Fingers-crossed that the price goes down a little bit before fall, but that may be a bit optimistic,” Rempel said, referencing the demands of harvest season. “Right now … we need to get the crop in the ground and so you pay what the price is.”
His roughly 2,000-acre farm sees up to 5,000 litres of diesel used on a busy seeding week. Spring fuel-ups are a fraction of Rempelco Acres’s direct input costs, Rempel noted — fertilizer is the biggest expense.
Click here to see more...