Small-field trials on Bourgault Industries’ 2,000-acre commercial farm in northern Saskatchewan focused on canola seeding rates, and nitrogen and phosphorus placement.

Agronomy manager Curtis deGooijer said five years of data shows that less can equal more when it comes to overall yield, emergence efficiency and plant architecture and maturity.

WHY IT MATTERS: Trials involving seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement can save agricultural producers input costs while maintaining or increasing yields and emergence efficiency.

DeGooijer told the recent Farming Smarter conference and trade show in Lethbridge that for singulation, rates were 10 seeds per sq. foot and then subsequently halved to five seeds and 2.5, while volumetric started at five pounds per acre and was then halved to 2.15 and 1.25.

He said yields held up even at the lowest rates, especially when conditions and fertilizer placement were managed properly. They were 49.1 bushels per acre at the lowest seeding rate and 49 bu. per acre at the highest.

The real differences were seen with plant architecture and emergence efficiency.

“We do a lot of emergence, not just at two-leaf, but then afterwards as well. Our actual emergence rates started to decline. So simply by reducing your seeding rate, you’re getting better emergence,” said deGooijer.

Emergence dropped from 72 per cent with the lowest seeding rate to 59 per cent with the highest.

Bigger plants

He also said lower seeding rates produced much larger plants with strong branching than the highest seeding rate. As well, yields from the lowest seeding rate were two bu. per acre more in the dry year of 2021 than the highest seeding rate.

“When I find in canola, what you see above ground is a pretty good indicator of what’s below ground,” he said.

“The root system underneath is a bit larger underneath. So a dry year, less plants seems to do better because of a bigger root system on it. Those plants, they can dive down there, get that moisture, get those nutrients.”

In wet years, he added, yields and emergence increased approximately five bu. per acre with the higher seeding rate.

READ MORE: Tips to achieve a uniform canola crop

The stalk stands were examined after harvest, showing that production was higher with lower numbers of plants.

“You had more plants starting to compete with each other a little bit. They didn’t really produce a whole lot of grain,” he said.

“The less plants we had, the lower seeding rate, the less unproductive plants we had as well. The dry years, lower plant stem does better, and the wet years, the higher plant stem does better.”

DeGooijer said this information could help farmers manage high spots that are drier with lighter soil and lower wet spots where moisture pools instead of practising a one-size fits all seeding rate.

“In a dry area, maybe I do want less plants. I want bigger plants to really tap down into those hilltops. I want less plants up there to drive those roots down, and bigger rooting system.”

The good place

He emphasized the potential of combining lower seeding rates with proper nitrogen rates and placement.

A nine-year nitrogen placement trial with canola showed a 17 per cent reduction in emergence with mid-row placement compared to side-banding, while yields remained consistent, hovering around 55 bu. per acre.

Phosphorus placement trials highlighted the importance of side-banding for better crop health.

DeGooijer emphasized the impact of fertilizer placement on plant stands and yield, suggesting tailored seeding rate strategies based on local conditions.

“Put them together, that gives you your plant stand. Plant stand is what is going to control the next things, your maturity with flowering, timing and frost,” he said.

“You get a year with plus-35 weather in the first week of July. If you have a low plant stand that didn’t go into flowering yet, it misses that heat blast area and starts to flower a little bit later. That is going to be beneficial in having a later maturity big time. In the same sense, you get an early frost at the end of August, you got this low plant stand and later maturity, that’s going to hurt you on the back end.”

He said seeding rates must also be considered when managing weeds.

“Weed competition, if you are going to go to a lower plant stand, you might have to spray twice. If you want to only spray once, that’s where you have to consider having a higher plant stand because that comes into canopy closure.”

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Touted as a first-of-its kind foliar-applied nitrogen, alignN 18-0-0 is formulated for nitrogen-demanding crops like canola and wheat. It gives growers the ability to apply encapsulated urea nitrogen directly onto and into the leaf, where it is absorbed for maximum intake and metabolism while reducing nutrient loss.

“Canadian growers now have a new way to protect their precious fertilizer investments,” said Norm Davy, president and chief commercial officer for Tidal Grow AgriScience.

“Our precise formulation of alignN allows nitrogen to bond electrostatically to the plant, helping keep it available under challenging conditions and reducing losses from volatilization, leaching, and runoff.”

The company said AlignN demonstrated effective in-season nitrogen response on wheat with up to 22 increase increase in flag-leaf diameter, a boost in protein content, and increased yield by up to seven per cent, with net returns offering $10-$25 per acre. This despite “extreme drought” conditions.

Similar results appeared in canola trials with increased yield of up to 10 per cent and more than one per cent boost in oil content, with net returns of $15-$35 per acre.

AligN is compatible with most herbicides, fungicides, and other nutrient inputs.

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Greg Stamp, however, hopes to show seeding in January isn’t so scary.

The Enchant, Alta. farmer seeded some spring wheat (AAC Oakman VB/AAC Westking) and durum (AAC Frontier) on Jan. 12 in a demo plot, mimicking recent research by Dr. Brian Beres on ultra-early seeding.

WHY IT MATTERS: With warmer southern Alberta weather, earlier seeding for spring wheat and durum opens up all sorts of possibilities for farmers, with research to back it up.

Beres conducted a four-year study that involved ultra-early seeding dates with hard red spring wheat on dryland sites in several locations across Western Canada, including Dawson Creek, B.C., Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alta., and Scott, Indian Head and Swift Current, Sask.

The overall conclusion was ultra-early seeding produced yields as good as — or, in several cases, higher than — crops seeded during the more traditional April/May seeding times. Seeding dates in the past have been more arbitrary, determined more by crop insurance deadlines than actual scientific research on sweet spots of seeding timing.

“The idea here is to treat the field like it’s a winter wheat crop. So we’ve got fall rye, trits, and winter wheat right beside it. Then we’re going to go in February and March again if we get a chinook and the soil temperature warms up. Then we’re going to plant our normal spring demos in late April, beside all these as well.”

As a dryland farmer, the goal is to take advantage as much as possible of early moisture, and beating the heat for flowering and maximizing disease control. Stamp was aiming for 1 C at one inch in his planting. Stamp used a Crop Intelligence weather station with temperature and moisture probes to see how the seeding is faring.

The early-seeding practice is the exception, not the norm, in southern Alberta, with other producers like Alison Davie at North Paddock Farms in Taber dabbling in it as well, according to Stamp.

“I think there’s value. I love this kind of research because it’s so practical to farmers. It’s not a typical practice, but I think long term, there’s going to be more people doing this,” said Stamp.

The initial hesitation by some farmers, Stamp admits, is in the logistics — namely, putting a drill in the ground in January, when people are at farm meetings, or on holidays, and/or equipment may be in the shop getting repaired. Another challenge is weed control.

Pre-planning has to be done in September-October, with spraying your field or laying down a residual herbicide — in essence, treating it like a winter crop. Wheat and durum varieties developed in Western Canada have adapted for cold tolerance, battling abiotic stress in more frigid temperatures.

“Even with seed, we need to have the varieties that the person is going to want to plant cleaned and ready to go, so they can buy seed at that point too,” said Stamp, adding he is targeting a high plant stand at 40 plants per square foot.

“There some work being done on what varieties are better. How does vigor impact this? Some of those things are unknowns at this point that we are assessing.”

Ultra-early seeding takes a shift in traditional mindsets, but it all comes down to the bottom line if the practice is to be continued.

“If there is money to be made or risks to be reduced, then I think there’s an opportunity there,” said Stamp.

Stamp is doing a field day in June with hopes Dr. Beres will speak on his ultra-seeding research.

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“It was a bit of a sleepless night at the end of the day, but in the morning we were extremely happy we were able to reduce the tariffs on Canadian canola,” said Andre Harpe, chair for Alberta Canola.

Canada expects its second-largest trading partner to lower combined tariff levels to 15 per cent from 84 per cent and remove anti-discrimination tariffs from canola meal, peas and seafood.

Harpe said when they saw agriculture minister Heath Macdonald and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on the trip, it seemed like a good indication a deal was in the works.

“We also realize international trade is international trade and until the announcement came up, I was on pins and needles,” Harpe said.

Need for domestic market

Harpe said the past rollercoaster year of trade with China has reinforced the need for a domestic market to insulate from future trade wars.

“We can’t let this happen again. We have to work on how to increase our domestic market through biofuels,” Harpe said.

Alberta Canola will continue talks on the topic with the Alberta and federal governments.

Harpe added that the tariff situation with China was created politically. However, the Carney administration seems to be working hard to right the wrong.

“We are very appreciative of it,” he said.

There are 14,000 farmers in Alberta who grow canola on 6.7 million acres according to Alberta Canola stats. In Alberta, canola production rose 13.4 per cent to 6.3 million tonnes, according to Nov. 2025 numbers.

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The company skipped a few generations from its previous T50 model to address the specific needs of western Canadian farmers.

‘We went straight to the biggest drum. The reason for this is because Canada is unlike any other country, where we have a majority of our land here is all flat. It’s big, open and flat. Of course, we do have a lot of hilly coulees, and B.C. has orchards or small, irregular shaped fields,” said Loren Ginn, area development manger for Sky Drones Inc., a distributor of DJI Agriculture.

Equipped with a 100-litre tank, the drone supports workloads for spraying and granular spreading (150-litre capacity) and has a lift system with a stabilizer, capable of carrying an 80-kilogram payload. Its maximum capability is covering 82 acres per hour, travelling at 72 km/h.

“A lot of the pasture guys, they like to seed their alfalfa, or if they’re going to put down grass seed, you can get to an area with the drone that tractors and other pieces of equipment might struggle a little bit with,” said Ginn.

The drone’s speed should be slowed depending on what it’s being used for, he added.

For spreading, the T100 has a built-in auger system that helps in slightly rainy conditions by helping break up the fertilizer.

The auger system ensures more consistent and efficient granular spreading by mechanically processing the fertilizer before dispersal. This means that even if the fertilizer is slightly clumpy or damp, the auger can still effectively distribute it across the field.

Sky Drones recommends a speed of 30 km per hour, which is still 60 to 70 acres per hour to maximize efficiency and cut down on spray shadowing.

Spraying crops such as corn or potatoes that have a lot of foliage will require slower speeds to get the product underneath the canopy.

The drone can travel faster on cereals and pasture because they do not need as much fumigation.

“Everyone has seen planes and crop dusters, but they have booms that go straight up,” Ginn said.

The way these drones work is rather than having booms that go out and then fall in a straight line, they have atomized sprinklers on either side of the drone. So that way it’s able to spread it out, then it relies on the down wash off of the drone to push it into the canopy.”

The drone has a regular 13-metre spray width, he said.

Ginn said producers are often intimidated by drones, afraid they are not going to be able to operate them properly.

However, he said artificial general intelligence software means operators rarely have to fly the drone manually, as long as they know how to make maps, which is part of the company’s training.

Sky Drones conducts demonstrations similar to what it did at Riverview Ranch during the Innovation on the Range field day.

“We want (producers) to actually use it and make their money back year after year from each drone. There’s not much point in us selling them if people don’t use them and understand how they work.”

Non-recreational drones can be a pricey proposition, but funding is available for agriculture producers through the On-Farm Efficiency Program, said Sonja Shank, program co-ordinator for the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta.

It is a 50-50 cost share up to $150,000.

Along with drones used for secondary purposes such as agriculture, the program also covers cameras in imaging/mapping drones and the first year of subscription fees for technology.

According to the Alberta government’s web page for the program, applications for the program are closed for 2025 and will re-open in April .

“Keep these things in mind when you go into the fall and start planning,” Shank said.

“There are a lot of these little funding pieces out there that not everybody knows about. And if you’re in the know, you’re in the know.”

Innovation on the Range was organized by the Chinook Applied Research Association.

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Among the names received were four cabinet ministers, including RJ Sigurdson (agriculture and irrigation) in his Highwood riding. Also named were Rajan Sawhney (Indigenous relations), Myles McDougall (advanced education) and Dale Nally (Service Alberta and red tape reduction).

Upon approval of the recall petition, a three-month window is opened for those who submitted the petition to collect 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent election in the electoral division.

In Sigurdson’s case, it would be 15,788 signatures to trigger a vote on whether the MLA keeps his seat in the southwestern riding of Highwood, which includes Okotoks and Turner Valley.

Recall petitions have been concentrated in more urban areas overall, including five from the Calgary area, which also included speaker Ric McIver.

The petitioner against Sigurdson cited unresponsiveness to contact and difficulty to get ahold of as reasons for the recall.

Not keeping regular posted office hours or responding to phone and email requests, and supporting the use of the notwithstanding clause, were also cited on the Current Recall Petitions page here.

“As your MLA, I supported action to balance children’s rights to education. The decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause was not taken lightly, but was necessary to ensure students could return to the classroom in the quickest manner possible,” said Sigurdson in his formal response to the recall petition.

“I remain fully committed to listening to and representing all constituents. I regularly respond to community concerns through meetings, emails, attending events and public forums. The recall petition’s claim that I do not engage with constituents is simply not accurate. My priority continues to be the well-being and future of our children, community and my ministerial duty to farmers.”

Elections Alberta also previously approved a petition to recall MLA Demetrios Nicolaides, the provincial minister for education and childcare.

The UCP holds 47 members in the 87-member house with the opposition NDP at 38. If all nine MLAs were defeated in constituency votes, Smith’s government would lose its majority status, with two former UCP sitting as independents.

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G.S. Dunn Ltd. is investing approximately $30 million to expand its 22-acre mustard milling facility, aided by a $3.1 million Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit from the Alberta government.

The facility brings in mustard seed from farmers, packages it for sale and sends it to 110 countries.

“The Alberta tax credit allowed us to add the milling operation to our facility where it did not exist before,” David Shields, plant manager for G.S. Dunn’s Bow Island operations, said in a video announcing the investment.

“Now, we are able to mill our products here in Alberta, closer to the source where it is growing. The process was very smooth. Working with the government, it helped us navigate some of the regulatory aspects of it. It helped us with our increase in the workforce and the ability to accommodate the staff here, with our infrastructure.”

The project has created 34 new jobs, and the expansion will also increase the facility’s purchasing power of raw mustard seed from $13 million to $44 million, with all seed coming from 300 rotated producers in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The Bow Island expansion is the second phase of G.S. Dunn’s value-added mustard milling project. Since its initial expansion into Alberta, the company has increased capacity by more than 200 per cent. The current phase has increased processing capacity by approximately 70 per cent compared to pre-expansion levels.

The APITC program provides a 12 per cent non-refundable, non-transferable tax credit when businesses invest $10 million or more in a project to build or expand a value-added agri-processing facility in Alberta.

The program is open to any food manufacturers and bioprocessors that add value to commodities such as grain or meat or turn agricultural byproducts into new consumer or industrial goods. Up to $175 million in tax credits is available for each project.

G.S. Dunn has more than 150 years of experience and provides more than 250 value-added milled mustard products, making it the largest supplier in the world.

The company was set up by the British businessman of the same name, who opened his first Canadian mustard mill at Hamilton in 1867. Its Prairie seed procurement and cleaning operation was set up at the former Spitz sunflower seed plant at Bow Island in 2019.

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Lupins outpace field peas and faba beans in terms of protein and starch level ratios, with up to 40 per cent protein and six per cent starch, making the crop attractive for plant-based protein production.

“The interest in Canada, especially in Western Canada, was always trying to look for something potentially new and different to try to bring into into our cropping rotations,” Robyne Davidson, a pulse research scientist at Lakeland College, said during a field school tour at Farming Smarter near Lethbridge.

”Down here, you guys have way more options. I hail from central Alberta, where we basically have four, maybe five crops that we can rotate through,” says Davidson, who has been researching lupins for about 15 years.

Another draw that has piqued some Prairie interest has been lupins’ status as a pulse crop that stands up against aphanomyces root rot.

“We had a fantastic two million-acre industry in Alberta for field peas, and bam, we have aphanomyces that we have no (seed treatment) control for. We have this wonderful industry, that if we don’t figure it out, it’s going to take us down to nothing very quickly. I’ve watched it happen in France,” Davidson says.

“Lupins are absolutely resistant to aphanomyces. The difference is between ‘resistant’ and ‘tolerant.’ If you are a field pea or a lentil, aphanomyces is devastating to you; dry beans is a little bit variable. Same thing with chickpeas: you can grow chickpeas in a field with aphanomyces, and you will find lots of spores in the roots and the plant will seem fine. It may also be contributing to the population. When it comes to aphanomyces, we are looking at six to eight years before you can come back and kind of hope for the best.”

Potential markets

There also seems to be more of a thirst for a lupin market than seen during a failed push years ago. New research has shown it’s an excellent feed for livestock such as horses and dairy cattle, given its amino acid and fibre content.

According to Davidson, studies have shown a return on investment of five-to-one, with milk and butterfat production higher on a lupin feed diet than a soybean/corn diet.

“We talk about the feed industry, because we are not going to have a food industry until we have a well-established feed industry in this province for lupin,” she says, adding the feed to food industry use is about 80 to 20 per cent.

For all its positives in maintaining pulse crop diversity in rotation for soil health, fixing nitrogen, high protein levels and low disease pressure compared to other pulse crops, Davidson cautions lupins have very structured conditions to thrive, with careful site selection.

Lupins are sensitive to high-pH soils, performing poorly in alkaline soils with pH around 7.8. Lupins prefer acidic soils around 5-6.5, which in Alberta can be found more commonly the further north you go, into the Peace region. Lupins are better suited for areas with longer growing seasons, such as in southern Alberta with lower pH, and in Manitoba, with different varieties maturing in ranges of 95 to 125 days.

Odyssey or Basagran cannot be used for weed control for lupins. Edge can be used as a pre-emergent herbicide. Once you have weeds coming up in the crop, you are pretty much limited to Metribuzin.

Lupins are also a high-water crop, requiring 10-12 inches on a lighter soil, avoiding heavy clay. You can still get a decent crop with lower moisture, but a good crop of lupins will get you about 40-45 bushels per acre, Davidson says.

“If you have an area on your field that is maybe under seven (pH), then yes, maybe you can put it on there,” she says, adding economic factors also factor in with middling contracts currently of around $450 per tonne.

Davidson hopes lupins can follow the same path as field peas 25 years ago: a new crop no one grew and knew little about, it came to more prominence as soon as best practices management was improved. Its agronomic characteristics include the woody stem preventing lodging, and a strong taproot, with similar seeding and nutrient requirements to field peas.

Davidson is continuing to study the potential of lupins and is working with six different seed companies worldwide.

“These companies want lupins in Canada and they are knocking down the door,” she says, adding Australia, Denmark and France, and the U.K. have approached her.

“Over the past 10 years since I’ve been looking for and testing varieties, we have come a long way. There’s no question we need to find some varieties that are slightly more drought-tolerant. But I don’t think that’s a huge stretch. I think they’re out there. I just got to find them.”

To learn more about the variables in growing lupins, contact Davidson by email.

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It’s why he wrote Practical Regeneration: Realistic Strategies for Climate Smart Agriculture.

“The main thing was going to all these conferences of just amazing results from practices. It was, I call them, ‘celebrity farmers,’ it’s not even research scientists or policy makers, it’s people who have fairly extraordinary claims of those things are working,” says Gillespie, who has nearly two decades of experience in dryland and irrigated specialty crop agriculture.

“A lot of the point of the book is first of all having things that are economical that make sense for farmers to do. You shouldn’t do something just because it’s a principle, because someone says it does something.”

More efficient input use

Gillespie says more efficient use of inputs is an area where farmers could make improvements with further research on best practices, although he acknowledges they have already made great strides.

“Realistically, when you look at western Canadian production compared to a lot of other areas in the world, we use a lot less fertilizer and we all are mostly no-till. The big things that are going to help, we are already there comparatively (to other nations),” he says.

“Even broadcasting fertilizer, banding it or placing it right physically into the soil, that is already happening. In some ways, they are already further ahead in Western Canada, and we can keep going forward. Comparing it to even 20 years ago, we are using more nitrogen fertilizer, but our yields are higher. If you look at use per bushel, we are getting more efficient. Just because of the climate being drier, we don’t use as much fertilizer as other areas do. A big one, I think, we can do is improving mapping with precise rates for different zones in the field.”

Agronomists combine the science of growing crops with enhancing the soil and then advise farmers when they have questions about either, he says.

His podcast, Plants Dig Soil, focuses on scientifically proven practices that benefit the planet and provide for farmers’ economic sustainability.

Carbon as a tool

His book has 24 chapters that touch on such topics as defining regenerative agriculture, a long view of regeneration, return on investment, evaluating products, full-season cover, when rains don’t come, strategic tillage for soil health and selling and using carbon as a tool.

“The last half of the book is talking about carbon sequestration programs, which are a little bit different. They are talking about paying farmers to put carbon into the soil. My opinion is you can’t just put carbon into the soil. It’s a system; you can put more in, but it activates it,” Gillespie says. “They will talk about being more regenerative, getting your soil working for you. A better functioning soil is more biologically active, so if you put more into it, more comes out of it in terms of carbon dioxide, so it doesn’t change things a whole lot.”

In the days of climate-change anxiety, Gillespie has seen people choose agricultural systems that seem right on the surface but don’t make a noticeable difference.

His book starts with the broad strokes of what Gillespie has learned in his own personal garden.

Gardening was a hobby growing up on a farm in southern Ontario, and that love of the land blossomed into a life-long journey in agriculture.

He attended the University of Guelph, where he earned a BSc in agriculture before pursuing his MSc in plant science at the University of Manitoba. Gillespie has a professional designation (P.Ag) from the Alberta Institute of Agrologists and has Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) status from the American Society of Agronomy.

Healthy soil practices

The book shifts to how farmers can get practical in implementing the main healthy soil practices, such as cover crops and intercropping. It segues into how farmers can advance their practices above the basics, concluding by looking into the future and examining how farmers can look at profitability in the long term.

“A lot of it came down to me doing my own investigation, science-wise. Looking for published reports, things written by scientists or third-party trials on things where they test out the practice or the product,” Gillespie says.

“All the new products coming out, the biologicals being a big one, they don’t have third-party data, they have testimonials and internal trials. Well, you can’t trust those. They can give an indication, though.”

Gillespie, who runs an agronomy business, Plants Dig Soil Consulting Ltd., says his book focuses on southern Alberta but can also be applicable to other regions.

“It has helped people find out more about how I think, and then when they need consulting work, whether it’s farmers or organizations that need help wading through stuff, I have had a few who have directly told me they read the book and now they are coming to me.”

The book has been read in the Netherlands, Australia and the United States, he adds.

Gillespie says many of the farming practices followed on the Prairies improve soil health, even though that’s not producers’ main motivation. For example, he says he keeps hearing about increased use of stripper headers, which leave taller residue on the land. Technically, the practice follows the soil health principle of leaving more armour on the soil.

“But they are not doing it because it’s a soil health principle; they are doing it because they are trapping a little bit more snow, and it’s making for a bit better microclimate for the plants. The wind is not as hard on them, and it’s not quite as hot, it’s not as harsh down there,” Gillespie says.

“It’s little adaptations that add up over time. It’s a long-distance race.”

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The caucus meeting identified nine changes to boost the national economy to be advocated to Prime Minister Mark Carney, with some including gaining full access to energy corridors across the nation, repealing Bill C-69, lifting the tanker ban off the B.C. coast, eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap, scrapping net zero regulations, ending the designation of plastics as toxic and returning the oversight of carbon taxes to the provinces.

‘Ottawa should stop interfering’

“We are here today as a united caucus because we have decided enough is enough. Development of provincial resources is a provincial responsibility and that includes the development of our transmission and electricity grids,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at the follow-up press conference.

“Ottawa should stop interfering because we believe Alberta and Saskatchewan have an opportunity to speak with one voice outlining the vision for our country, and we can call for a country that works for all of us.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe brought up Bill C-5 as proof of the need to legislate around current cumbersome regulatory processes.

“It’s an admission this hard work does have to happen. We have been supportive in prioritizing projects in the short term, which is really a stop gap to fixing the entirety of the regulatory process that we have in Canada, so that all projects can move forward,” said Moe.

Need for port-to-port corridor

“In Saskatchewan we don’t have one, or two or three projects that are a priority, we have literally in excess of 100 projects.”

The premiers echoed the importance of a port-to-port corridor connecting Western Canada to Hudson Bay for accessing Asian and European markets, which would benefit both provinces by increasing oil prices, freeing up rail capacity and enhancing egress to the U.S. The initiative aims to create long-term wealth for centuries, and strategic advantages for Canada.

“That opportunity has to be for all products,” said Moe.

Improving access with the national corridor would free up rail capacity for agri-food products, including potash, for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Approximately 94 per cent of Canada’s grain exports are transported by rail, with 75 per cent of the fertilizer produced and used in Canada moved by rail.

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