SASKATOON — As the agricultural landscape braces for uncertainty, securing supplies now could be a smart move for the season ahead.
According to the from the Farmers Business Network (FBN), prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. With market pressures mounting and a potential tariff war with the United States looming, FBN’s general manager of Canada, Breen Neeser, is urging farmers to take advantage of current pricing before the spring rush.
“Pricing has come down to historical lows and has been for the better part of the year,” he said.
“Growers should probably take advantage of them; prices are probably unlikely to stay there.”
Because of the dynamics of the Canada-U.S. marketplace, it’s difficult to predict exactly how a tariff war might affect pricing, but the fallout would almost certainly result in price increases. But even if tariffs don’t materialize, Neeser expects prices to rise.
“The base raw material costs that make up the cost of a crop protection product are increasing,” he said.
“So product manufacturers have two choices. They can either eat that decrease, or they can turn around and say, ‘I’m not doing this anymore,’ and they’ll make it less available.”
FBN is a membership-based farm chemical and agricultural input supplier based in the U.S. FBN Canada was launched in 2017 and now has more than 9,000 members in Canada. The group began publishing its Canadian Ag Chem Price Transparency Report in 2018.
Price variation
The report analyzes prices at various ag retailers across the Prairies, and it often identifies a wide variance in the prices farmers pay for the same product, depending on the retailer.
According to this year’s report, the variation between the highest and lowest price paid has narrowed compared to last year. For example, Liberty 150 SN saw a 74 per cent gap between the highest and lowest in 2024, but this year, the variation dropped to just 41 per cent.
But while the variation has narrowed, 41 per cent is still a big discrepancy, and even with lower prices, farmers need to shop around for their products.
Neeser noted that making those purchasing decisions can be complicated for farmers, and it is sometimes difficult to know what they’re getting.
“When you walk into a retail at any time from now through the spring, you often will get the retail’s kits for their solution to your weed problem, and it’s very hard to figure out what may be in that solution,” he said.
“Our particular approach is to be transparent. The grower has control; you decide for yourselves.”
Are generics the answer?
Neeser is also fairly transparent in acknowledging that, as a supplier of generic crop protection chemicals, the company’s annual pricing report also acts as a marketing tool for FBN’s products. However, he points out that FBN isn’t the only generic supplier in the ag chemical space.
“We have our own competitors,” he said.
“We think we’re doing our bit for farmers, and to some degree for ourselves. But the truth is, we’ve been part of the reason the major crop chemical prices have come down.”
Indeed, the increasing number of generic chemical suppliers has intensified competition.
“What we’ve seen with older formulations and formulations that have generic competition is that those generics have pushed down the prices,” said Manitoba Agriculture farm management specialist Darren Bond.
He says FBN’s transparency report is a useful tool for farmers, especially now when margins are so tight. However, he said farmers should exercise a little caution when it comes to generic products. He pointed out that while some of the newer formulations do cost more, it’s usually because they add some advantage to the producer.
“It might be a wider range of weed control, or maybe a wider control window. There’s some sort of advantage to the producer with the newer formulations,” he said.
Chemical trait stacking was introduced in response to the emergence of herbicide-resistant weeds, allowing farmers to spray a wider variety of chemicals in order to manage tougher-to-control weeds, such as kochia.
“So while the glyphosate may be relatively cheap, we’re using a few extra chemicals in our tank mix to control these harder to control weeds,” he said.
“If you can control a wider range of weeds, all things being equal, you’re probably going to pay a little bit more for that technology.”
It should be noted that generic distributors, including FBN, also market products with stacked traits. FBN lists its products next to the branded equivalents on its website.
Generic chemicals enter the market once the original product’s patent expires, usually 12 to 20 years after the initial registration. In order to register a generic product, a manufacturer must ensure that the active ingredients are as good or better than the original.
In the end, it’s really about the return on investment.
As well, Neeser says FBN’s goal is to provide its products at a competitive price, even within the generic space.
“Even if you have that active ingredient that’s equal to or better, it has to be a price that’s worth that grower to switch,” he said.
“You have to believe it’s going to do everything for you and it’s going to be at a price difference that makes you move at your feet.”
However, Bond advises that before making that switch, producers should seek impartial advice from sources they trust.
“I think it’s important for producers to consult with their agronomists, their economic advisers and their trusted retailers to understand the differences between generics because not all generics are created equal,” he said.
“I think generics can offer good value, but I also think producers should have an understanding and a comfort level with the quality of that generic product.”
