2024 a year of challenges and triumphs for Saskatchewan farmers

Farmers are looking back at 2024 in Saskatchewan as a year that had both challenges and triumphs.

When it comes to the weather that agriculture producers experienced, Shaun Haney, the founder and CEO of Real Agriculture, said that it was a downward slope through much of the growing season.

“If you think back to the early summer, late spring, there was a lot of optimism out there in fields across Saskatchewan. We had a good amount of moisture for a good part of the province. People were looking out their windows and saying, ‘I think I got a pretty good crop out there. We gotta get it in the bin,’ and then July (was) hot and dry and that’s where the slide started,” Haney said.

Listen to the full interview on the Evan Bray Show here:

He said that growers had low expectations to begin with, but those expectations were quickly crushed by a reality that was much worse.

“Especially on canola yield, that’s the one I’ve heard from a lot of growers where they’ve been like, ‘Man, my expectations were lowered, but what I actually got was even less than that,’” Haney said.

While the cropping sector suffered a less than spectacular year due to hot and dry conditions in July, one sector on the other hand had a pretty successful year.

“I think for a lot of ranchers, they’re feeling good about the past year. Prices have been very strong in the beef industry. So while the cropping sector is looking at maybe some red times on their income statement, I think the beef industry is on the other side of it, where people are feeling good and thinking that 2024 was a pretty good year in comparison to some of the past ones,” Haney said.

Read more:

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According to a recent report released by BMO, Canadian farmers produced three times more output for every hour worked in the ag sector over the last few decades.

Haney said that he believes that number will continue to grow, as long as the right decisions are made.

“I don’t think we found the top here from a productivity per acre or per unit standpoint. I think there’s still room to grow, and this is why the investment in research and the investment in innovation and technology is so critical for that number to increase,” he said.

“If we stifle innovation through policy we’re going to be capping that number, and it’s going to be our own doing. So as long as we create the environment and the structure and the context or innovation to thrive, we’re going to see that agricultural productivity numbers continue to increase.”

He said Canadian farmers are optimistic about raising efficiency and productivity for 2025.