Canfax

📣 New Factsheet: Forage Production Cost Benchmarks: What's the real cost of a bale?

Forage is the foundation of your winter feed budget, but do you know its true production cost? Many operations run haying equipment for years without knowing if each acre is building equity or draining it.

🔍 Did you know?
✅The Full Cost Picture: We move beyond fuel and twine. The report accounts for machinery depreciation, repairs, labor, land charge, and storage losses to reveal the all-in cost per ton or per bale.
✅High-Yield vs. Low-Cost: The data challenges the maximum yield mindset. Often, moderate-yielding, lower-cost acres contribute more to overall farm profit than high-yielding, high-input fields when all costs are considered.
✅The Storage Loss Penalty: Quantifying the financial impact of poor storage. Weathering and waste can silently increase your effective cost per ton by 25% or more, negating careful field management.

💡 Key Question: Is your forage program an expense to minimize or an asset to optimize?

Find out how to diagnose your cost drivers, compare your efficiency to benchmarks, and make strategic choices about seed selection, fertility, harvest timing, and storage that directly hit your bottom line.

📄 View full report:
24-14a Cost of Forage Production:https://canfax.ca/uploads/Analysis/CRS-Fact-Sheets/24-14a_forage_production_cost_FULL.pdf
24-14b Summary Version: 2024 benchmarks and trends:https://canfax.ca/uploads/Analysis/CRS-Fact-Sheets/24-14b_forage_production_cost_CONDENSED.pdf

In 2026, a record large number of acres were estimated to be dedicated to canola production with over 23.4 million acres set aside. Saskatchewan led the way with 13.4 million acres, or 57% of the total. Alberta planted 6.6 million acres (28%) with Manitoba at 3.2 million acres (14%).

Read More 👉: https://canfax.ca

📈Protect your financial health

What do the most successful farms have in common? They prioritize key tasks to reduce risks, seize opportunities, and build stable, profitable operations. Use Farm Credit Canada Farm CEO Checklist to define priority actions, mitigate risks, seize opportunities, and build a sustainable business.

📍One of the key steps in the Farm CEO Checklist: https://shorturl.at/L93MV - Keep financial records and cash flow analysis up to date.

👉To learn all about budget analysis, watch the Mastering your farm budget webinar: https://shorturl.at/qfJg3

US 85% lean trim continues to hold near its all-time high. And has been over US$410/cwt for the past three weeks. US cow slaughter volumes have been below year ago levels for 15 of the past 16 weeks, supporting lean trim values.

Learn more : https://www.canfax.ca/

Statistics Canada released their Principal Field Crop Areas for 2026 this week. Planted barley acres are estimated to be up 9% from 2025. Planted corn acres are estimated to be up 5% from last year to be the largest on record going back to 1908.

Read More 👉: https://canfax.ca