RealAg Radio: Richardson rejoins Canola Council, influx of U.S. ethanol & ag safety week, Mar 17, 2026

This Real Egg Radio podcast is brought to you by Pounce 384 EC insecticide from FMC. Get fast, effective control of striped and crucifer flea beetles and cutworms in canola with light, stable performance that lasts longer. Talk to your local retailer. Today it's time for Real Egg Radio on rural radio, channel 147 on Sirius. RealAg radio and real EggCulture.com is your home for insight and analysis of the issues that are impacting your farm business. Let's get real and get connected with RealAg Radio. Welcome to Reel Ag Radio here on Rural Ready 147A. SiriusXM Shaun Haney, your host here on this Tuesday edition of the show. Hey, thanks so much everybody for making Real Life Radio in Rural Radio 147 a big part of your workday. Also, of course, listeners of the Real Life Radio podcast welcome as well. We appreciate you doing that and make sure you're spreading the word to. I don't care if you're listening on satellite radio on Sirius or you're listening to the podcast, keep spreading the word. Audience continues to grow, continues to expand in Canada and the United States and we are so pleased and happy to bring it to you. And every single weekday there is, you know what people always ask me, you know, because I was, I, we were down in Denver, Colorado this past weekend for, for baseball for University of Mary. My son's a senior there, his last season. It's hard to believe, but Denver's always a great road trip. Played at Metro University, downtown Denver, and they took three or four from us. We really should have, we should have had three or four. We don't need to get into that. But it was a great weekend of baseball. You always get to connect with all the parents. There's parents really across, you know, California, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Minnesota, as well as really across Canada. Met a great couple from Burlington, Ontario, and there was another couple there from Langley, bc. So you get my point. You get a, just meet a tonne of people. And one of the cool things about some of those discussions is people are asking me, like, you host a radio show every day. People think my job is weird. It is a little bit strange. It's a great job. I have one of the best jobs in all of agriculture. I tell people that all the time. But people always ask, they'll, you know, they'd say, hey, how do you fill that show every day? Like you're, you're doing an hour long a day. And my answer is always the same to people that, you know, like, that are working other industries and, you know, have more regular jobs than this one. Or I'm talking to somebody that is like farming and ranching and they know this show well, that filling the show is not the, the hard part. It's actually figuring out what shouldn't be in the show or what can't be in the show because we are just so full having to pick and choose on what the topics are we're going to cover. So I'm very happy to do so. And I really appreciate Lindsey hosting last Friday, appreciate Lindsay doing the Agronomy Monday show. I am back here today, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lindsey's in the seat on Thursday for the farmer Rapid Fire. And I'm back in the seat on Friday. So looking forward to the week that is head ahead. And we got a lot to talk about. Of course, the war in Iran is still going and diesel prices in the United States are now over $5. They're over $5, which is the first time since 2022, which also I think was the first time. That's the only other time diesel crossed $5 nationally in the, in the U.S. so $5 a gallon in the U.S. so things are not necessarily slowing down on that front. I did, before we get to what the show lineup is today, I did want to mention I got a piece of feedback. You know, we've been talking about fertiliser prices and the impact there. Chris McLaughlin, who is a very loyal listener of the show, he sent me a tweet yesterday saying, I called my local fertiliser supplier today. They won't have prices for me for two more weeks. They need to order in more urea for which the price is steadily increasing. Farmers in my area of New Brunswick will be impacted by higher fertiliser prices. So, Chris, appreciate that. Continue to hear from people. I can't get a quote. There is the price side of this equation, but there is also the supply side of this equation as well. So make sure you're talking to your local retailer in times like this. Okay? Today on the show, we're going to hear from Deb Conlan. She is the head of government relations with the Grain Farmers of Ontario. We're going to talk about the. It's kind of a good news, bad news. So for our American listeners, it's good news in the sense that Canada continues to expand its imports of U.S. ethanol. Okay, so you're feeling happy about that. Who's not too happy about it is the Canadian corn grower because they in Canada there's not the same sort of system like or a programme like the 45Z programme. But could that change? Could we have our own domestic equivalent that not only Canadian but American producers get to take advantage of as well, similar to how Canadian producers take advantage of 45z more the canola front. So we're talking to Deb Conlan about that and what needs to happen with the CFR amendments that the government at ECCC is working on. We're also going to have a discussion with CASA today. We're going to be talking to Abigail Fair from CASA about egg safety week. Egg safety obviously very important. And then we're going to have a conversation as well with Jean Marc Roui, who is with Richardson International. They've made the decision that they are hopping back. They are back in the Canola Council of Canada. The why and what of that. Kelvin Hepner had a conversation with John Mark late Monday afternoon and we'll hear some of the details. We've also got Teresa Aguilar Cordero, who is an entomologist, University of Saskatchewan. She's gonna talk about the upcoming season of the Pest and Predator podcast. So we got a lot to chat about here today on the show. Now, if you have any feedback, send me an email shaneeyealagriculture.com and we'll get into all of your feedback and but let's take a break and when we come back, Deb Conlan, GFO with us. Talk ethanol policy right after this. Questions about the markets Sonoa by grainfox is your AI grain market analyst ready 24, 7 to help you make smarter grain marketing decisions? Ask about market trends, pricing signals, basis or what today's moves mean for you and get clear, instant answers. Get a free trial and special savings at Grainfox CA realag Grainfox CA realag Ask Sanoa get an answer. Take action. It's that easy. Get started now. Since 2009, the Canola School on RealAgriculture.com has been providing relevant and timely agronomic advice to anyone involved in canola production. With over 15 years of video content on YouTube, the Canola School has been producers. Go to source for canola agronomy, research, marketing and more. The Canola School is brought to you by BASF and Invigor Hybrid Canola cheque us out on YouTube [email protected]. If you're serious about agriculture, Real Ag's got you covered. For over 10 years, we've listened to and shared what producers have to say about everything from policy to agronomy from coast to coast. Keep up with the latest in Canadian [email protected] through daily newsletters and cheque out our YouTube channel. Thanks for joining us in the real light community as we continue to cover and serve North American agriculture. And welcome back to Reel Ag Radio here on Rural Radio 147, Sirius XM. There's lots happening on the biofuel front. The last few weeks we've got been talking about renewable diesel, but now let's talk about ethanol and the clean fuel regulation and some of the amendments that are potentially are being proposed and what needs to happen from an agricultural perspective. Maybe just how important is the CFR overall? We're joined right now by Deb Colin. She is with the Grain Farmers of Ontario. She is the GFO's Director of Government Relations based out of Toronto. How are we doing today, Deb? Pretty good. How about you, Shaun? Hey, I'm doing pretty good. It's, hey, we're mid March. I am broadcasting today from Kincardin, Ontario. It doesn't look click spring. I will just tell you. I'll tell you that. Okay, now I guess to start off the top, how important is the ethanol industry to corn growers in Ontario? It's critical. You know, over 30% of our corn goes into ethanol. And think about it, right? When you look at the map of Ontario, there's an ethanol plant in Sarnia, there's an ethanol plant in Chatham, there's an ethanol plant in Johnstown, and then there's some other biofuel production around the province scattered, right, but those are the main ones. And you look at where the production of our corn is, these guys are able to grow their corn, transport it locally, make the most they can off of it and locally because it's right there in their back corner. And it's a, you know, it's a business, John, that, you know, took years to produce what it has right now. It's billions of dollars that have gone into this, right? And that money was the Ontario government invested in it and the federal government invested in it. They had a vision in mind. And that vision is working, right? And not only that is it not only working for corn growers, was working for the livestock industry. The DDGs that come out of that are totally integrated now into the feed for animals. And you're talking about skimming off the top to make low carbon fuel, which is ethanol, and then having some high protein animal feed as the byproduct. You really can't and then it's in every corner, so you're not driving miles and miles to it. You've got it right there so you can drop it off. The farmer can get the most in his bases and it's a pretty critical industry. From GFO's perspective, are you happy with the current state of the clean fuel regulation or do there need to be improvements made for it to really, really have a benefit to corn growers in the province? Well, right now it's easier to make the ethanol in the US and ship it in. Right, because they've got the subsidy. I've heard one plant in Illinois already accumulated $60 million of credits. Right. So that right there is where their starting point is. They can get up to a dollar a gallon in subsidies. And already we've got 3 billion litres coming in from the US to meet the mandates that exist already. A billion two in production here in Ontario, in Canada. I mean, and you know, what we're seeing is that growth is going to continue and we don't have the domestic production to meet the mandate. But what would stop once we, we get to that ceiling for the US subsidised ethanol to just take out the domestic ethanol. So that's what we're looking for. We want to, you know, we're here to support our ethanol industry and they're saying they need an amendment to the clean fuel standard and that's a domestic content minimum and credit multiplier at a minimum to compete. What do you, do you have a, Is there a number in mind in terms of what that domestic component needs to be? 5% is what they're saying. That equates to about 2.5 billion. Right now we're at 1.8 billion litres of capacity. So they think that, you know, right now we've got Ontario governments put in a temporary domestic minimum content and the BC government has done the same. But it's something that I think that we're hearing from the ethanol companies that they need to see this in the clean fuel regulations. This is small to medium sized businesses that need predictable government regulations. I've heard people say we're one of the few countries that isn't looking at how to develop the domestic biofuels industry, whereas everybody else is in other countries. So, yeah, yeah, like you look at the us, Brazil, India, you know, really strong policies in place are being developed to really make biofuel production thrive in those countries. You know, for some of the audience that isn't aware, Canada is the largest purchaser of U.S. ethanol and American corn growers, the ethanol industry realises that this isn't about preventing imports of US product. The Canadian industry is not big enough. It's make. From what I'm hearing from you, this is about ensuring that there actually is an ethanol. There is domestic production in place in Canada on top of what we're already importing from the Americans. That's right. Right. We depend on those imports to maintain the mandates. But if you were in one of these companies, you know, this isn't a great signal to say that the people down south are making something that's subsidised by a dollar a gallon and that's 36 cents a litre for all those Canadians out there. You know that. I compare that to where the price of ethanol is being traded at today. 65 cents a litre. That's a pretty big chunk of subsidy. Right. So how can you compete? It's about competing, not about impeding. Right. Now you say subsidy. Are you, are you talking about the 45Z credit? Yes, I am. Okay. And to be clear, though, some wouldn't phrase it as a subsidy and Canadian producers do benefit from that 45z or intend to on the Canola side, shipping into the us so there is ethanol and renewable diesel. Maybe have different feelings on this. Do you view 45Z as a subsidy? Well, I think it, I mean, you could say that it is a subsidy. Right. It's an export subsidy and I don't think anyone's lobbying for them to get rid of it. Right. We're just looking for what the ethanol industry is saying they need to remain competitive. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Deb, when you talk about this 5% domestic inclusion is how is that being received from people you're talking to? Not only at, well, just Triple C, is it being taken seriously? Yeah, I mean, they went out with some ideas for amendments in January. Right. Mirement Canada did some, what they call laser or some specific amendments before the big review is in a couple of years. And they, that was one of the things that they asked the public. Do you, you know, do you want to have a domestic minimum? So, you know, I would think that they would be open to it. Right. And as well as the multiplier. So what is the multiplier? Just for everybody who's not in the ethanol game all the time, what is, what is the multiplier you're talking about? So the multiplier basically we've asked for is 1.4. So if you had one litre of ethanol in Canada, it would be worth 1.4. You know, four times what it would. It's. It's the equivalent of 1.4 to one litre, essentially. So it gives you that or it gives the ethanol company that benefit to compete with that dollar a gallon. So if you want to net it out, it says it's essentially the same in their minds. Okay, so Canada having its own 45Z type of programme. Yeah. Without the government having to spend money. Right. Okay. Essentially, yeah. So where does that money just. Again, I'm sorry if I'm asking questions, Deb, where you're like, you're in this game all the time. Where does that money come from then? It comes from the system. So the obligated party is required to buy a certain amount of credits, not just ethanol, it could be ethanol, biodiesel, electrification, and the credits are. Are to meet their obligation. I got to ask you, like, why you and I have talked about this before through RealAgristudies, the market research on real agriculture. When we asked Canadian farmers, does biofuel policy provide a benefit? Even eastern Canadian farmers, farmers in Ontario don't necessarily jump out and say, rah, rah, let's go. It's seen as very neutral in policy. You also mentioned Canada in more broader sense, doesn't really have. There isn't really a true push here to have a strong domestic thriving industry. Why are. As Canadians, why are so meh. Apathetic on this front? I don't know. I mean, maybe it's just, you know, you. I mean, I don't know if grain farmers are apathetic about it, but they definitely rely upon it. And if you were to say that it was going to go away, they would have really strong feelings. I can't think of how many resolutions we've had on it. But I do know in the last couple of years there have been a lot of resolutions around, like, what are our plans? Are we supporting this? You know, we've run ads as GFO in the 400 and 401 corridors promoting ethanol and biodiesel over the years. So there is a commitment to the industry and making sure that everybody knows what a benefit the industry is, not just to farmers, but to the environment. But, you know, I don't know, it's hard to get a parade out for everything, I suppose. Right. You've got a business that the government's invested in and they continue to, you know, keep talking about it and trying to make it better. So I guess it's, it's, you know, there's the energies there. It's just how do you get it? Right. Right. When can we expect them to make a decision on the amendments? Do you have any insights there? I heard summer to fall. Yeah. And the ethanol industry saying sooner is necessary. Right. And that makes sense. Right. So the decisions are coming about in the states shortly and the competition is there. I told you the numbers. 3 billion imports, 3 billion litres of imports, 1.2 billion production in Canada. You know, you need to know what's going on sooner than later. Right. And. And you need to be able to compete. Yeah. We're going to have the EPA decision here. The details on the RVO's very shortly. That is part of this. And if you've been paying attention at all to the US trade strategy under President Trump, it is ethanol exports are always a key component which is going to be a factor into this USMCA review that is upcoming. So speed on this is is. I think you nailed that. It is absolutely critical indeed. We've been talking to Deb Conlan. She is with the Grain Farmers of Ontario. Deb, thanks so much for joining us here today. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Shaun. Take care. Hey. This segment was brought to you by Oxbow, the latest innovation from New Pharma. Versatile broadleaf in crop herbicide powered by Duplasin technology. Oxbow is your workhorse on resistant kochia and other tough weeds. Find out more by going to NewFarm CA. We're back with more of Real Life Radio right after this. The future of phosphorus fertilisers is Rhizob. Craig Dick, VP of Sales and Marketing for Phospholutions explains. RhizoZorb 8390 is a next generation dry phosphate fertiliser that replaces MAP or DAP. Rhizo Orb technology is incorporated into traditional phosphate manufacturing resulting in a finished granule that enhances phosphorous upper uptake, reduces phosphorus use rates and maintains crop yields. Preserve yield, optimise phosphorus and reduce costs with rhizozorb. Peter [email protected] I'm the host of the Word and I love doing the Word. I love the questions, I love the challenges. I love having to apply agronomics to all over the globe and areas outside of my normal jurisdiction. Also, I love the feedback the most. Where growers challenge me, tell me about their plot results, help me to learn the Word. Absolutely the best part of my day. As you look ahead to the next growing season, there's a lot to consider when it comes to your crop. You need every possible advantage available to you, the Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com has everything you need to make the best choice for you and your Farm on Demand videos with leading industry experts available anywhere, anytime. Go into the season confident and ready with the Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com. And welcome back to RealAg Radio. Well, you know, interestingly enough, we are about to start season seven of the Pest and Predator podcast which is powered by wgrf and it has been an outstanding run of talking to some really cool and interesting people in the field of entomology. Joining us right now is well to talk about upcoming season 7 is Teresa Aguirre Cordero. Teresa, it's great to have you on the show. Thank you very much, Shaun. It's a pleasure. Yeah. Okay, so why did you get intomology? Well, because I, since I was a little girl, I love to catch bugs, to analyse them and yeah. Figure out how they are and yeah, I was like a kind of wild girl catching bugs around, so. And then all of a sudden naturally you end up in the field. Well, you know what, it is absolutely critical to have people like yourselves that are committing their careers to researching some of the bugs, the insects, the some case predators that are trying to rob us of yield. But there's also the helpful ones, the beneficials, which are also some of the areas that we explore with pests and Predator podcast. So from your standpoint, season seven, why are you excited about the Pest Predator podcast this year? Well, I'm excited to learn more about how the Pest and Predators podcast brings pretty entomologists directly to other researchers, growers and agronomists. It is a pretty cool group. Like I did say, there's a lot of personality and a lot of really, really key knowledge in Canada's field or I guess roster of entomologists that are working at universities for federal government and provincially as well. You're based in Saskatoon, correct? That's correct, yeah. At U of S. At the University of Saskatchewan, yes. Okay. And what's your, what's your specific area of focus? Plant science. So I study the insects that affect or can help to get a better yield in agriculture. Fascinating stuff across all crop types. No lentils? Well, my master was on fava beans, so maybe like legumes or pulses, but right now just lentils. Why do you think it's important that we do podcast series like pests and predators? Why is that that so important, do you think? I think that it's super important to make a bridge between science and, and the public in General like growers, agronomists or maybe like other members that make gardening or just like, like science. And to know what are we doing right now? Sometimes we forgot to. Yeah. Make this more friendly for the publics or the final users that are agronomists, farmers or growers in general. So I think that it's super important to give information in an easy way. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Doing some cutting edge research and having that just over here and nobody really touches it, interacts with it, accesses it, unless you went to a specific meeting or something and bringing that info and connecting it with the practicality of the users like farmers for example, or agronomists. Ag retails is really critical and it really allows the tentacles of that research to expand out to the masses. So I think you hit on it perfectly. And I mentioned that it is sponsored by the Western Grains Research foundation, wgrf. It is great to have them on board again as a sponsor. Yeah. And also as a researcher is a great tool to understand another kind of insect. So for example, I'm not working with wasp, but I just listen. I don't know in which season one interview of one person that is working with wasp and that gives me more idea about how the other insects affect my pest. Well, the pest that I'm focused on. So yeah, it's very useful not only for growers and farmers and agronomists, but also for other researchers to understand different scenarios or methodology too. Yeah, I look forward every year to having Dr. Tyler wist on who talks about beneficials attacking some of the nefarious insect characters in our canopy as if it's like some sort of WWE wrestling event. So I look forward to that every year. We're be starting the new season, season seven here right away this spring. So everybody out there in the real agriculture audience, make sure you stay tuned and and download. You can go back and listen to. You can go back like Teresa talked about. You can go back and listen to some of the prior season's episodes. Highly encourage you to do so and catch up to us that have been listening to every single episode here in the launch of season seven here in 2026. So Teresa, thank you so much for joining us here today and look forward to our next chat. Yeah, so stay tuned and listen Pest Appreciators Podcast. Great stuff. Hey, we'll be back on Reel Ag radio, Rural Radio 147 right after this quick break. Until you've used via Tude fungicide, you'll never know what Your canola crop is capable of engineered excellence in every jug. Via Tude combines two powerful actives, Group 11 and 3 for best in class Sclerotinia protection and superior resistance management by penetrating the plant and protecting against infection. Treat your canola crop to a healthy and productive season with VIA2. Ask your local retailer for more information. Before you get back in the field this year, spend some time with the corn school on realagriculture.com get all the information you need on hybrid selection, planting depth, crop inputs and more from a wide range of industry experts. A massive library of video content is available on demand when you need it most. Spend your time outside of the field, inside the classroom with the Corn school on real agriculture.com. And welcome back to RealAg Radio. Hey. From nutrient management to latest weather market and ag trends, the Dirt and Economics Podcast is your place for farm smart topics to boost your profitability. Join host Mike Howell on season five of the Dirt Podcast coming this spring. New season is out and actually yours truly is I'm a guest in this season. Mike Howell just posted it so encourage you to cheque it out. It is the Dirt Podcast by Economics. Okay, let's talk about Farm Safety Week that is happening this week in Canada. Joining us here to talk about it is Abigail Fair. She is with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association. Abigail, it's great to have you on the show. Yeah, it's great to be here. So what do you do at casa? I do a lot of the communications work, so I'm out there sort of just doing social listening, seeing what people are talking about, ag safety, scheduling a lot of social media posts, a lot of the boring back end stuff and then gathering a lot of data on farm safety in Canada. And it is Ag Safety Week, which is very busy week for your organisation, I guess. Give us some of the numbers, the why here and why we're trying to create some awareness around farm safety. So farm or farming? Agriculture is actually one of the most hazardous industries to work in in Canada just per capita with just the number of injuries and fatalities that we see every year. So in an average year Canada loses about 60 people or children and adults on Canadian farms and like mostly preventable accidents. So that's really the why behind casa. As I mentioned, I do a lot of data collecting so I get a lot, I get emails almost every day of people being injured on farms and almost all of them are preventable. Yeah, that's the, that's the unfortunate part, right, is that there's a lot of things that happen on the farm that are out of our control, you know, weather markets, things like that. But when it comes to farm safety, a lot of times it's actually in our control. They are preventable incidents. And sorry to a lot of farmers, they don't necessarily feel unpreventable because when you're. When you're in a crunch, say you're trying to, well, make hay while the sun shines. Right. Like you're trying to get things done when the weather's cooperating, a lot of people will just push themselves to the absolute brink. And the way that farming's been done, a lot of people view it as, well, that's the only choice. I'm a farmer, I have to go no matter what, no matter how tired I am, no matter what issues are going on with my equipment, I need to get this done. So it's really about working with people to not just talk about the real issues around farm safety, but also to celebrate the win, celebrate the ways that people are making these small adjustments or choosing to prioritise safety over just output. Yeah. And a lot of times it's just kind of slowing down. Yes, exactly. It's taking a break. Yeah. We've been doing a Farm Safety Roundup series with WSPS in Ontario and we've learned a lot about farm safety here on RealAg Radio. But let's. Let's dig in here a little bit of what some of the, I guess the activities and sort of the daily themes that CASA is going to be hosting and holding and promoting for Ag Safety Week. Yeah. So today we're talking a lot about, like, spring seeding and slowing down on the farm. The farmers listening know spring is a busy time. And you add into that there's a lot of. A lot of travelling on roadways. There's. You're interacting with the public, whether it's just somebody in a truck driving behind you, when you're transferring equipment on a roadway or railway crossings, you're just. There's a lot at play in spring. So Canadian Ag Safety Week falls at a great time where we can encourage people to take the time now before the spring busyness really hits, to start making their safety plan and figuring out how they're going to ensure that the spring season is profitable and safe. And then we move on. We're talking about rail and road safety, so talking about, or encouraging producers to slow down and to maybe turn off the radio, open their cab doors when they're going across railways and just listening and being aware of trains and being cautious when they're on roadways. We're highlighting farm machinery safety as well. And when. Actually, I think that's tomorrow. We have farm machinery safety as our topic, and then we have emergency preparedness, women and ag and livestock safety. So we're really going in on just some key areas that we see that the conversation around safety still needs to grow and evolve. Yeah. So what are things. What are some of the things you're doing on some of those days? Like the day where we're talking about having a safety plan? What. What are some of the things that you're encouraging people to do? So we're actually launching the Emergency Preparedness Hub for casa. So that is an online resource where farmers, farmers, producers from all across Canada can go to this emergency Preparedness Hub and they can find resources for creating a safe farm plan. They'll find toolbox talks. And we've. It's not just our content. So CASA really believes that there are so many amazing partners. There's so much work being done in ag safety, but it's so spread out. So the goal of the hub is actually to bring all those resources into one place. So instead of looking at 17 different safety websites, you can just go to one spot and we pull together some of the best emergency preparedness resources from different provinces and territories. That is very specific to. Yeah. To the different areas that people are farming in. So that's what we're really celebrating and encouraging people to cheque out. Yeah. I think it's always important to remember we're not talking about, you know, I think a lot of times when we talk about farm safety, people imagine the extreme end of the pendulum. Yes. In many cases, that's not what we're talking about here. We're just trying to make some improvements and create a safer environment in your operation. Most farmers, many farmers have some really robust, like, intentional safety plans in place. They may not even see it that way, but it's in the way they talk to their kids or the way they talk to their workers. Like, a lot people are out there, they are doing the work, but there's just always more to be done or else we wouldn't see so many deaths on Canadian farms every year. And there just is this sense of, well, it's always been done that way and it's been fine till now, so why would I change it? So I think really it's just small adjustments and working with people on one small thing at a time to just make. To make farmers in Canada overall just a safer place to live, work and play. What's the website for people to find out more and get some information on some of the resources. So you can cheque out CASA AXA CA or to go directly to the Emergency Preparedness Hub. It's eGrady. Ca a g r e a d y ca. Great stuff. Eggsafetyweek. Ca. Yes. Yeah, great. Well, honestly really appreciate you joining us here today. This is an important topic. All the best to you. Thank you very much. Egg Safety Week. Thanks for celebrating with us. Great stuff. That is Abigail Fair. She is with casa. Hey. For generations, Bergo has led the world in air seeding technology built on innovation and agronomy. First design Burgo delivers precision placement, smart data integration and the productivity farmers demand. Go to Burgos. That's B O U R G A u l t burgo.com back on with more of RealAg Radio Right now, I'm Lindsay Smith from RealAgriculture.com Join me Monday nights for the Agronomists, a one hour live and interactive show broadcast across YouTube, Facebook and X. Monday nights at 8pm Eastern I host expert agronomists from all over the country to give you answers to some of the toughest agronomic questions. Join us live or catch the replay Tuesday morning. That's the Agronomist with me, Lindsay Smith, Monday nights live at 8pm Eastern. Hi, I'm Bernard Tobin, host of the Soybean School on RealAgriculture.com throughout the year on the Soybean School, we'll bring you timely agronomic video content from planting to harvest, from the latest agronomic research to the latest in production technology. Cheque out our massive video library on YouTube realagriculture.com or download the audio podcast versions. Wherever you get your podcasts, the Soybean School is brought to you by Mazic Seeds and Lalamon Plant Care. And welcome back to Real Life Radio here on Rural Radio 147 SiriusXM. You can fill up at your local co op this seeding season. With full tanks, you can avoid the rush and start your field work at the earliest moment possible. Plus, with the spring early delivery programme, you can save time and free up cash flow. Receive early on farm delivery of high quality fuels and delay billing at participating co ops. Talk to your local co op fuel team member today to arrange for early on farm delivery and ensure you are fueled up for spring. Spring is kind of here and depending where you are. Well, no, I shouldn't say it's here. It should feel like it's going to be Here but the weather has spring weather still looting us a lot. We're still only in like a lion stage waiting for the out like a lamb. And if you look across the kind of really across North America, through the Midwest, the Prairies, Ontario, it's seemed windy and chilly, windy and chilly. You know we were down in Denver, Colorado for University of Mary baseball on, on the weekend watching my oldest son who's in his senior season and their bus got stopped at Cheyenne, Wyoming and not because of a blizzard which is what I originally had thought. No, no, no, it was a windstorm and it was like apparently like hardly any visibility based on how strong that wind was and the dirt that was flying. Crazy stuff. It's. Yeah, we're waiting for the land part. We got about two more weeks then things warm up here I think on the weekend in a different parts of the continent. But everyone's kind of waiting very, very patiently as as possible. Well you're about all to, you know, really be busy with calving season if you are not already as well going out to the fields. Farmers will be very, very soon but from a policy perspective it's not all over yet and there's still things happening. Last week was crops convention and that is hosted by the Canola Council of Canada and Canada Grains Council. And I should mention that there was a storey [email protected] by Real Ag's Bern Tobin talking about the appearance at Crops convention by Pete Hoekstra who's the ambassador from the US to Canada. And he had some words in regards to advice to Canada on how they need to sell the Free trade Agreement going forward. So encourage you to cheque that out less on hey we're, you know we should have this deal but selling more people in Washington, specifically in the White House about why this is an awesome idea to be want to be doing business south of the border. And he showed some concern about some Canadian apathy towards the Free trade agreement going forward. So we talked a little bit yesterday in the news segment about that. But next what I want to do is talk about one of the other things that happened last week at Crops convention and that was the AGM for the Canola Council of Canada. And after a numerous year hiatus, Richardsons is back to being a member of the Canola Council of Canada. Real ag's Kelvin Heppner had a chance to catch up with Jean Marc Rui who is from Richardson's to talk about the decision why now and what it means for the go forward. Here's that CONVERSATION Richardson International has decided to rejoin the Canola Council of Canada after, I believe it's around an eight year hiatus. And joining us here on Real Agriculture and RealAg Radio now to discuss this decision by one of Canada's largest Canola customers, processors, exporters, we're pleased to welcome Jean Marc ruy. Jean Marc is the senior Vice president of Corporate affairs and General counsel with Richardson. Thanks, Jean Marc, for taking the time to chat with us once again. Thank you, Kevin. So I know we spoke years ago about the decision at the time to end funding for the Canola Council of Canada, the national Canola industry organisation. At the time, I believe you talked about the value proposition not being there for the investment that Richardson was putting up for its membership in the Canola group. What has made the company change its mind and become a member once again as of last week? Well, I think there's been a number of changes that have been adopted at the Canola Council and those I think have been reported with respect to the scope of work that it undertakes of its funding models, et cetera, and things that we had raised as issues at the time when we left. We've had discussions with management and the executive of the board of the Canola Council to understand the changes that they have brought about, the extent to which they were responsive to some of the issues that we raised. I don't think that they've resolved all of the issues, but they've made some good progress, I think. We obviously have been through some difficult times with respect to Canola and market access issues, et cetera, and I think the time was right for us to get back to the table with the Canola Council and be part of the discussion going forward. So when you talk about changes the council has implemented, one that I think is maybe seen more publicly than maybe some of the others is the the end of the agronomy work that the Canola Council did, or the laying off last year of most of the agronomy team. Is that what you're referring to or how big a part of the conversation was that or how important was that to Richardson? Yeah, I think that was part of the discussion. And it wasn't so much the absolute need to cut out agronomy, but it came down as well with respect to who ought to be funding those activities. So that was part of the discussion. And the other element that we had highlighted in the past was the need to reduce duplication of activities between these various commodity groups that we support. And I think the Kanoa Council has signalled some intentions to progress in that direction. I think they have done some things along those lines and we look forward to pursuing those types of initiatives going forward. Can you speak at all to changes to the membership criteria or fee or what, what participation in the Canola Council looks like today for Richardson versus what it did eight years ago? Well, it's. I can't get into the details of the specifics of membership fees, et cetera, except to say that I think that we are on a much better path than we had been in the past. Okay. Of course, the tariffs on exports to China have been a major issue for our industry and for exporters like Richardson. Can you speak to the value of being part of an industry organisation when it comes to dealing with broader industry issues like that? I think that's always a valuable part of membership in any of these groups. I think Richardson manages, managed to have its voice heard in any event, but I think there's always benefit in being able to try to find a. A cohesive, united voice on these things. I think, notwithstanding our absence, I think we had a good relationship with the Canola Council when we were dealing with those issues. But now being part of the discussion to form that more general industry voice, I think is valuable. Okay. Do you see certain priorities or aspects of the Canola Council agenda that you would like to. That Richardson would like to see the Council lean into going forward? What potentially what the future of our Canola sector looks like in Canada from Richardson's perspective? I think the market access part of its functions has been and always will be a critical part of its programming. That continues to be probably our main priority as we look forward to some of the challenges that we are seeing, seeing internationally and, you know, the development of new markets for our product. That's always something that is of interest to us and we talk about that internationally, but domestically as well, you know, we talk about clean fuel regulations, et cetera, and the development of the biofuels industry in Canada. So I think those are elements that we need to have a good understanding of and develop proper positions accordingly. Do you see on the. On the biofuel front? It feels like there has been an awareness raised here in the last couple of months about kind of being at a crossroads with opportunity on the biofuel side of things. And some. A lot of that's driven by U.S. u.S. Policies, of course, and what the impact is for the Canadian market. Do you feel like the Canola Council should be doing more on. On driving domestic biofuel demand? I don't really have Any position on that at this point? Okay. All right. Well, it's certainly, I think in our small world of agriculture, it's good to see a big player back at the table. And thanks for sharing some insight, Jean Marc, into why Richardson has decided to return to the Canola Council of Canada fold. My pleasure. I really do agree with Kelvin that his comment about from a collaboration and having more people inside the tent of the industry to push it forward is really a good thing. So I think it makes a lot of sense for Richardson International to be a member of the Canola Council of Canada. You look at some of the disruption as of late, there's been more of a push for large organisations, especially on the grain side, to be leaving these associations not coming back into the fold or into the fold period. So I think this is definitely a positive step. Probably more is going to develop on this front as time progresses. We were not hearing, at least I was not hearing about potential for Richardson's to come back. I think it was always a possibility, but it wasn't like it was rumoured leading up to it, which again leads to how quiet some of these things definitely are. So. And I really do appreciate John Marc Harubi providing that, that access to talk about the decision by Richardson International to come back to the Canola Council of Canada. So yeah, gonna be taken as a very positive, a positive move by Chris Davison, the president CEO of the Canola Council of Canada and his team and board to bring Richardson's back. Okay, so we covered a lot of ground here today and remember it is ag Safety week in Canada, so keep your head up. The old hockey saying, let's keep our heads up out there, boys. Make sure you're, you're thinking about farm safety and having that farm safety plan for the 2026 season. Any deaths is too many deaths. Any injuries are too many injuries when it comes to the farm, the ranch, okay? So we got to do everything we possibly can to minimise, minimise preventable accidents that cause not only injury but unfortunate deaths. And we can do that. We work in a dangerous industry, working an important industry. We work in an industry that produces food, fuel, feed and fibre, critical part of the rural economy and the national economy. And so we got to do our part in doing that, in accomplishing some of those goals and those outcomes. We got to do it safely. So I really want you to challenge you to think about farm safety this season. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be some sort of intensive 6 inch, 3 ring binder at all. It doesn't, you know, but let's, let's keep it small. Let's keep it simple. Regular safety meetings on the farm, right in the right situations. Reflective gear that also includes reflective gear on equipment. There's just little things that you can do, little things that are gonna go a long way to keeping somebody safe. You safe, your workers safe, your kids safe, your spouse safe, your employees safe, neighbours, bystanders. Like there's a lot, just little things that we can do that make a big difference. So appreciate casa coming on the show here today. If you have any feedback, send me an email. Shaneeyealagriculture.com youm can also call or text the RealAg Feedback Line, 855-776-6147. For those of you listening to the podcast version, we got a new segment coming up next, so stay tuned for that. The rest of you listening on Rural Radio 147, thanks so much for getting real and getting connected connected with RealAg Radio. Cheers, everybody. Thank you for downloading this RealAg Radio podcast brought to you by Pounce 384 EC insecticide from FMC. With proven performance across multiple crops, Pounce 384 EC helps you stay ahead of pest pressure and protect your crop investment. Talk to your local retailer to learn more. And welcome to the Reel Lag bonus here on the RealAg Radio Podcast. Really appreciate everybody tuning in and making RealAg Radio a part of your day. It is. It's a chilly, windy, snowy day here in Kungarden, Ontario. Looking forward to speaking to a bunch of growers at a Lucknow Co op meeting here today. Looking forward to it and appreciate the invite and the opportunity to always chat with the real agriculture audience out in, you know, out wherever in Canada and the us. I know on Friday they were joking. I have, I have not been close to many direct flights as of late and that, hey, that's the, that's what it's, that's what happens when you're speaking to rural audiences. You don't get to just stop into Chicago or Toronto. You get on to rural Canada and rural us. So looking forward to today's meeting and interacting with farmers that got along their minds. And you're gonna hear it here in the RealAg. Top Ag News storeys of the day here in the Real Lag Bonus. And there's a lot going on and a lot, you know, it just, it just feels like the new cycle is really moving here and there continues to be a. Just a huge volume of things that are making the headlines that are impacting people back at their farms. No matter even if it's the events that are happening on the other side of the world. We're going to start off with this Trump Xi meeting that was going to be happening here in a couple weeks. And President Trump has requested a month or so delay on his late March summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, citing the need to remain in Washington to coordinate Operation Epic Fury. As the conflict with Iran enters its third week, the administration is pivoting its diplomatic focus toward assembling a Hormuz coalition to reopen the strategic waterway. However, this effort is exposing deep rifts with allies. While Trump has framed this request as a loyalty test and warned of a very bad future for NATO if they decline, major partners, including Germany, Canada and the UK have resisted being drawn into a wider war. The standoff comes as global markets reel from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has pushed Brent crude prices towards $106 a barrel and spiked the cost of critical goods like fertiliser and helium. While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant insists the summit delay is purely logistical, analysts suggest the pause may offer both Washington and Beijing a strategic relief to refine deliverables amidst the regional chaos. For now, the administration's primary challenge remains securing a vital energy choke point without the broad international support it traditionally relies upon. Hard to fully understand here what is at work. We're going to hear from the American Soybeans association here a little bit later on in the news. This is a meeting that farm groups in the US need to have happen. They want, you know, there was. There's some optimism yesterday in regards to not just soybeans, but a number of other commodities. They're going to be discussed at this meeting. Beef, sorghum, of course, soybeans, pork and others. And so this is going to be looked upon as a little bit of a negative. We saw a very sharp pullback Monday as rumours were flying this meeting was going to be delayed. Sharp pullback in the ag commodities. It was red across the screen, including canola, down, I think around $35 in most of the months. So is it? I've read analysis saying that, don't worry, it's just a pushback. I've also seen commentary that President Trump looks weak here, that he's trying to spin it. Xi may be pushed off the meeting because he does not want to provide support with this Hormuz coalition and providing escort of ships on top of what President Trump's looking for NATO to do on the NATO front. It has definitely been a resounding. Yeah, I don't think so. Germany, probably the strongest. I heard Prime Minister Starmer out of the UK say that this would not be any sort of a NATO operation. He would not be drug into a, a wider conflict. So it's really not shaping up the way that President Trump wanted. There was a storey in both the Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal being reported that overnight strikes did remove a couple of Iranian leaders that have been left. So the bombing continues. But a lot of the attention is not on what's happening in Tehran. A lot of the attention is what is going on in the Strait of Hormuz and the issues that it's causing regarding energy prices and fertiliser supplies and diesel and all of these things that what the broader industry and not just farmers are concerned about. I heard this morning, and I know I heard this right, Delta Airlines is going to be spending $400 million more on fuel just in March because of the cost escalation. I'm pretty sure I got that right. Okay, so let's get into will these if the escorts are to happen. Like, one of the solutions here is that this needs to be a allied approach. Of course, as I've mentioned allies, and I talked about this on Friday on AGRA Talk, I think this was a predictable outcome. I don't think that we should have expected US Allies just to say, oh, thanks for asking, yes, we will be there. You know, talk about coalition of the willing and, you know, these. The idea of what the President has called this Hormuz coalition, there probably should have been an Iranian coalition in regards to this operation prior to the war even starting. But the President made it very clear, hey, he didn't have to ask anybody, he couldn't do what he wanted. And now, not only is it unpopular inside the US it's obviously very unpopular war when it comes to all these other traditional ally countries. And so as I said yesterday on the show, it creates, it creates a real political firestorm for these allied leaders. Do I think eventually we probably see a little bit more of a step up in assistance? I do think so, but not immediately. And President Trump's not gonna like that. And we're gonna roll very quickly into there being threats of probably increased tariffs on allies that do not help because of this loyalty test he's been talking about. I did hear a perspective where somebody talked about how what allies should do is say remove the tariffs and will help sort of give the President a taste of his own medicine, so to speak. Well, we'll have to see if it goes down that way. But hey, let's talk about these escorts. So the head of the International Maritime Organisation, the imo, Arsenio Dominguez, is warning that naval escorts, a cornerstone of the Trump administration's strategy, will not provide a 100% guarantee for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Dominguez argues that military intervention is not a sustainable fix for a waterway that handles 20% of oil and LNG flows. Because of the strait's narrow geography, commercial vessels remain highly vulnerable to missiles and drone strikes that naval protection cannot fully eliminate. The IMO chief highlighted that the shipping industry is currently collateral damage, with crews facing food shortages and global supply chains forced into costly long term rerouting. Instead of further militarization, Dominguez is calling for a diplomatic de escalation, advising ship operators to avoid the region entirely until conditions stabilise. This stance directly challenges the US push for a multinational coalition reinforcing the market reality that as long as the underlying conflict persists, so will the pressure on global energy prices and inflation. I highly encourage everybody to go back to last Monday's episode of the Frontlines podcast that I did with Jacob Shapiro, Bespoke Group and we talked about how in order for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, the Iran Iranian war needs to end. But it also does not mean that that strait just reopens that day. These two things, these two issues could be on different trajectory and the chances of the Strait of Hormuz reopening and being safe for ships prior to the war ending, that seems like a low probability. It has to happen in the reverse order. And with President Trump pushing back, as reported this meeting with President Xi, it doesn't sound like the war is ending anytime soon. Fuel impacts let's look at what's going on there. So the escalating conflict in Iran is driving a sharp rise in fuel and shipping costs, creating a pass through effect that is now hitting Canadian and American consumers. Since late February 2026, the price of heavy fuel oil for container ships has nearly doubled, while global container rates have jumped 12%. Major carriers have halted voyages through the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal, rerouting vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. That's a detour that significantly increases fuel consumption, labour costs and travel time. So not only are shippers facing higher fuel costs, but they're having to burn more fuel because they're taking less efficient routes to get to the destinations. This is Cost escalation. This is a massive, this is a really big, massive, however you want to put it, substantial concern from an inflationary standpoint. So for Canada, the impact is particularly acute in the agricultural and transport sector. So one and you know, some of these. Fertiliser crisis. Roughly one third of global urea nitrogen fertiliser passes through the Strait of Hormuz. With prices already up nearly 50%, experts warn a production shock that will drive significant food inflation. We've also got rail surcharges. Canadian National Railway has aggressively hiked fuel surcharges. Domestic surcharges rose from 21 to 20 30% while cross border cargo fees jump from 26 to 38%. On the aviation and trucking side, air freight demand is surging as an alternative to stalled sea routes. But skyrocketing jet fuel prices have already pushed ticket costs for flights to Europe up 100 to $200. As shipping giants like Maersk warn that these costs will be passed directly to retailers, Canadians can expect higher prices for everything from electronics and machinery to basic groceries in, in the coming months. Serious. This is at a time where the cost of living, I've been showing it in my presentations. At a time where the cost of living and affordability is the number one concern for Canadians and Americans. This is not good politically for either President Trump or someone like Prime Minister Mark Carney. Now his prime minister. Mark Carney's popularity continues to increase here over the last number of months. But this is a threat to it. Now. Does he have control over this? Well, absolutely not, but it does. You know, it does. It doesn't mean he's not going to be punished politically for it because it's still happening. We saw this during COVID right. There were leaders that became, you know, political victims just because of the timing and the circumstances. So I'm not saying this happened to Prime Minister Carney. He's moving towards, you know, these three by elections. Probably gonna have a majority, he's gonna have some time, but he's got some stuff to deal with. And there's no easy solutions when there's something like this that is so out of control. You do wonder if as time moves on and affordability becomes such an issue, if we do see this, you know, continued cost escalation of goods because of the increase in things like fuel prices and how that's passed down, does that shift how Canadians view Canada helping the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz? That just, I don't know the timeline on that. That's something I'm interested in watching as the weeks develop here. I mentioned the American Soybean association earlier. They're calling on President Trump to prioritise US Soybeans in his upcoming negotiations with President Xi Jinping. In a formal letter, the group urged that the administration needs to ELIMINA the remaining 10% retaliatory tariff and secure expanded purchase commitments to stabilise rural economies ahead of the 2026 planting season. While China remains the industry's top customer, importing $9.9 billion worth of beans last year, rising input costs and market volatility are squeezing farmer margins. The ASA is pushing for commitments beyond the existing Busan Agreement, which currently targets 25 million metric tonnes annually through 2028. As the summit delay provides more time for deliverables, soybean growers are emphasising that predictable trade with China is the only way to offset the serious headwinds currently facing the American farm belt. And this is the struggle, right? It's, it is the fact that some of the US crops are very reliant on Chinese purchases, soybeans being one of them. Okay. And we are not living in a time here right now where there is predictable, unthreatened, calm trade flows. We got some chaos happening and I think it's creating a lot of angst based on where farm profitability is in the sector. Back here in North America, a major labour strike at the JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado has halted production at one of the nation's largest facilities. I mentioned this yesterday. This takes roughly about 5% of the total U.S. slaughter capacity. Offline 3,800 workers represented by the union, UFCW Local 7. They walked out after months of failed negotiations over wage increases and the cost of protective equipment. The disruption hits an industry already reeling from a 75 year low in cattle numbers, which has pushed JVS's North American beef division to a $560,566,000,000 loss this year. Packers have definitely been in the, in the negative margin category for quite some time. And that's a full reversal from what we, you know, during the pandemic pack beef packers made mint major cash, major money, record profits. And it's been weak since the pandemic. And ranchers and feed yards have been more in the black and making money. The packers been on the outside of that profitability window and we're, we're maybe gonna see, if we, if we do see that cash price come down, wholesale prices go up puts packers back in the margin. While JBS is attempting to mitigate the Blow by diverting cattle to facilities in Nebraska and Texas. The market is already reacting. Live Cattle futures have dropped 4% this month as feed yards face a processing bottleneck, while consumers face even higher grocery bills. Ground beef prices are already up 15% year over year. Analysts warn that the strike persists. The margin squeeze lowering the prices for ranchers. Well, raising costs for consumers will only intensify. Also, what's going to intensify is pushes to the White House to look at this idea of breaking up the packers. So this strike, although you may be like, hey, this is really well timed for the packer and you know they're going to push themselves to the black. It's going to give some serious gasoline, expensive gasoline, because gasoline is expensive right now, but gasoline is going to put some real gasoline on, pushing the White House to pursue quicker and stiffer when it comes to looking at packer collusion. If this is the way that things go. And of course, again, this is not, this is fitting. This is just another variable in the affordability, in the affordability situation when it comes to groceries. Beef being a very expensive item in the grocery store, relatively speaking now, up until now, consumers have really stepped up to buy beef. If I said on Anchor Talk on Friday this was all working towards being a very profitable year for the rancher, I hope I didn't jinx it. I really hope I didn't. Because this Iranian war is a major threat because of the affordability issues around beef. Probably need to cheque that a little bit and watch how this plays out. But this strike at JBS is not going to help the affordability discussion at all. And, and some of the theories out there, what packers are really up to. That's, you know, that that narrative is very much out there. And, and so we got to follow this and sort of connect all the dots and see how not only consumers react, but also the White House. You know this. There's a lot of news of threat and angst and anxiety and, you know, it's hard to put together good news right now. We got lots happening in the world of agriculture. Maybe on Friday, though, we get some good news. US President Donald Trump has invited farmers and biofuel producers to a Celebration of Agriculture event at the White house scheduled for March 27th. So sorry, that's next Friday. So in 10 days. This was reported by CBS News on Tuesday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. When I read Reuters Online, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has sent its proposed 20, 26 and 27 biofuel blending quotas to the White House with a final rule expected before the end of March. So we'll see what the celebration of agriculture is. I'll tell you, if you pump it up and you talk about the celebration of agriculture and you know, the golden age and all this kind of stuff, they've, and it falls flat and we don't get the numbers on the RVO's that we think we're going to get or want to get or you know, estimate to get. This industry cannot afford a letdown. This is, this is one that everyone's watching. And of course Also in the US big, big focus on year round E15 availability. That is another one that just seems to be really stalled out from the Globe and Mail. WTI Crude has retreated from its $120 peak, but the market remains volatile as President Trump's claims of complete victory in the Iran conflict with the warnings that the situation could still worsen. For Canada, this geopolitical shock has recoupled the loonie to oil prices. The correlation between the two has spiked 0.7, pushing the Canadian dollar towards the $0.75 mark for the first time since 2023. I think we're about $0.73 flat last time I looked. While the stronger dollar and higher energy prices could boost oil exports to 30% of Canada's total trade value, likely staving off a technical recession, it comes at a cost. Headline inflation is projected to climb towards 3%, effectively ruling out any interest rate cuts from the bank of Canada, which is expected to hold steady at 2.25%. Ultimately, Canada is faring better than most. But the crisis underscores a missed opportunity to leverage LNG and export infrastructure that was never fully developed. Yeah, woulda, coulda, shoulda. If there would be a positive out of all of this, if Canada had the export infrastructure that many have been talking about in the Canadian energy sector forever, it would be a real economic positive because there would be a lot of demand to access energy. Well, there is a lot of demand right now to access energy that does not have to go through something like the Strait of Hermose. And so here we sit again, looking on the outside and saying, boy, you know, if only Canada would have had the foresight to, you know, not have the 10 years of Trudeau where the Canadian energy sector was this like bad word, a bad dream. You know, this regretful industry that had, you know, has provided so much not only to the Alberta economy, with the Canadian economy. What an unfortunate situation. So now Canada, it, you know, I've heard A lot on things like Bloomberg radio and cnbc. A lot of talk about, you know, Canada is one of the countries that is going to see an increase in energy exports. Also, it is one of the currencies that has fared better versus the US dollar than others. It is actually, I think it is one of the only major currencies that is up versus the US dollar since the beginning of the Iranian conflict because of the flood back to US dollars as the, as the world's currency. Okay, so just watch this. I wouldn't say that. I've heard a lot of analysts say we're going over 75 or, you know, we're going to be at 80 cents or something like that or back to par. I haven't heard that. What I have heard is Canadian dollars have gotten much more expensive relative to. They've appreciated more versus the other currencies around the world. Sorry, hiccuped. Okay. From the Wall Street Journal. There's a Fed decision here this week for the fifth year running. Federal Reserve officials themselves expecting inflation to fall back to the 2% goal, only to be confronted with another disruption that complicates the path. First it was the pandemic's aftershocks, then Russia's war in Ukraine last year, a sweeping tariff programme. The most recent data suggested inflation progress stalled even before America's war in the Middle east disrupted one of the world's most important shipping routes. The turmoil could send up energy and commodity prices and waste that could further delay reaching the target. Officials meeting this week face a question that would have seemed unlikely a few months ago. It isn't when they the next be the next rate cuts, but whether they can credibly tell keep telling markets to expect a rate cut at all. Again, wide pieces of opinion on this. I have heard people talk about how the Fed needs to start to raise rates. I've also heard people talk about how with the bump in oil prices, the Fed must cut rates. So there is wide opinions on that one. Of course, we're following it very closely as it impacts not only what the bank of Canada does, but also it impacts just farm debt levels, period, and what some of the loan levels are out there. And finally, a storey that is really heartbreaking. Nebraska is battling its largest wildfires on record with four blazes scorching 740. The massive Morrill fire accounts for the bulk of the damage, fueled by high winds and extreme drought conditions that began on March 12th. Federal teams have now taken command of the response as local crews struggle with containment, which remains below 20%. Across the major fire zones, the agricultural toll is severe, threatening a region home to over 700,000 cattle. Governor Jim Pillin has declared a state of emergency in seven counties and is seeking the emergency release of CRP land for displaced herds. With record heat forecast and a statewide burn ban in effect, officials warn that a volatile weather continues to hamper suppression efforts. I was in Colorado on the weekend. They have had. The fires are in Nebraska. I'm just. But when I was in Colorado on the weekend, a lot of talk amongst the people, you know, the other fellow baseball parents on that team about how there has been no snow all winter, winds are high. It could be an ugly, ugly fire season in that part of the world. So, hey, that's all the time we have for the news here. Well, that's all the new storeys I have. We could really could just go forever. But I appreciate everybody tuning in. If you think we missed a storey, we'd love to hear from you. You can send me an email. Shaneyaalagriculture.com Heck, if you've got an opinion on any of these storeys, I want to hear from you. And how this is impacting not only the broader market, but how it's impacting your farm. Of course, everybody talking about fertiliser prices and some people having, you know, a lot of farmers having a hard time even getting a quote from the retailer. So, you know, work, work, work. Stay on the phones. We are very close to spraying. It's not only the pricing that we need to be thinking about, remember, it's also getting the actual physical product, so be on top of it. This is, we're really close to go time. It's not November, we are in the middle of March, we are very close to spring. And this is shaping up to really be a tough, tough question for many farmers, especially farmers on the coast, where imports of urea are much more of a staple than some of the some of the inner parts of the country. So everybody's not the same here. Everyone's facing the same issues on the price perspective because it's a global market, but depending on where you farm, the supply question is much bigger. So really appreciate everybody tuning in. Thanks for getting real and getting connected with RealAg Radio and downloading the RealAg Radio podcast and we'll see.