Almost a century ago, Winston Churchill, speaking of Russia, described the land of czars and Cossacks as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” That’s as good a way as any to describe the present tariff wars and what they mean for farm equipment, farm productivity and farms themselves.

Prices are soaring, with every tractor or harrow, front end loader or auger priced to include tariffs. Repair parts? Tough to say. Statistically, a third of U.S. farm machinery is exported to Canada and thus subject to Canadian tariffs.

What we know is that as of Aug. 1, 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order raising the tariffs from 25 to 35 per cent on products that do not qualify as originating goods under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), farming got a lot more complicated. A US$800 per day per person exemption or allowance for goods shipped to the U.S. from Canada was eliminated effective Aug. 29, 2025. So much for tax management by parts shopping.

The prices of crops influence the prices of gear used to plant, grow and harvest them. Prices at the curb depend on tariffs, if any. You could say, “OK, we’ll add 30 per cent or whatever the charge is and make that the final price,” but that isn’t the whole story.

Each week Trump makes new tariff announcements. The tariffs are a charge on goods’ sale prices, billed as part of a sale and remitted to the U.S. Treasury. Newspapers and broadcasters play the U.S. and, for that matter, Canadian reciprocal tariffs as bad news, but there is unspoken good news as well:

• Tariffs may insulate domestic manufacturers from some competition from similar imported products.
• Tariffs on goods impair the desirability of imports, effectively boosting the sales and bottom lines of competing Canadian manufacturers. Tariffs widen price differences and thus give nominal support to the competitiveness of Canadian equipment. Though components of machinery may be more expensive after imposition of tariffs, the final price, including profits, may be higher as well. Obviously, this is a case-by-case situation.
• Tariffs make existing machinery on the farm worth more. These are balance sheet adjustments and the implicit price gains are not taxable until sale. In the U.S., the Milwaukee-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers reported that for Canada there was an 11.7 per cent decline in sales of new 100-hp-or-over 2WD tractors and a small, 2.2 per cent gain in sales of new 40- to 100-hp tractors for the period to the end of July 2025.

Data on sales of farm equipment combine current prices and buyer/seller expectations of future prices. Tariffs may increase buyer eagerness to get deals done this year or next if prices threaten to be higher next year or later this year. They may delay supply of old equipment coming to market on trades as farmers extend the life of equipment with repairs or parts replacements.

These predictions reflect the costs of uncertainty, for U.S. tariffs are as much threats as realized and embedded charges. That said, the rational path for farmers — and, for that matter, other businesses with cross-border exposure — is to delay purchases of new equipment, to invest in maintenance and upgrades of existing equipment, and to buy made-in-Canada equipment where possible. Delayed purchase and extended operating life are effectively the same as a reduction in annualized cost. The risk is that future prices may rise with inflation. It’s today’s capital costs versus tomorrow’s balance sheet. But uncertainty, which is the issue, is not a cost until it is billed.

The rationale is clear: every product has a profit margin — paying a foreign vendor’s or manufacturer’s costs plus embedded tariffs is adding insult to injury. Why pay cost plus profits enhanced by tariffs if comparable equipment can be had, new or used, without tariff-boosted profits for foreign manufacturers or vendors?

To date, farm equipment prices have been falling in response to documented tariffs and undocumented fears of worse to come. Equipment prices have been reported as soft in 2025 as sales slow. Old equipment prices should rise, yet auction records for 2025 to early August show that farmers are not just shopping for good used gear, but staying on the sidelines altogether.

None of this is really conclusive, for U.S. tariffs may be adjusted up or down, farmers may shop more on the back lot for used gear and less in showrooms for new gear, extend co-operative arrangements with neighbouring farms and farmers, or even depart farming with sales and available tax breaks.

There is a farmland capital gains tax exemption per owner for farms personally owned. That works out as $1 million for the farmer and a similar amount for the spouse if they actively farm with both spouses on the title and with the assumption that each actively farms or manages. Renting the land is not active management but taking risks with the land. It’s being seen as taking risks that qualifies for the exemption. This is a tax-cushioned way out of the tariff dilemma. It may be the best way out for farms impaired by U.S. and even higher Chinese tariffs on crops such as canola and products such as dressed pork.

Politics have made farming tariffs as vital and as essential as actually growing the crops.

The post How U.S. tariffs are changing farm costs in Canada appeared first on Grainews.

There are a couple of big farm shows in the U.S. over the winter, at which the major brands unveil some of their newest offerings. Then there’s typically a lull until the summer-season shows begin, where the machinery introductions ramp up again.

But this spring, machinery markets are not just quiet but unusually quiet. And U.S. tariffs are clearly the reason.

As Donald Trump continues to roil markets, creating economic instability with fluctuating tariff rules, delivery of new farm equipment has been disrupted in a way that hasn’t existed since the Second World War.

But U.S. farmers are the ones most affected so far.

The farm equipment industry, like most others, is a global one. Major brands have manufacturing plants in several countries. Although all build equipment in the U.S., some machines are imported into North America, including the U.S., from overseas.

That flow of equipment into the U.S. has been disrupted because of the fluctuating tariffs.

Agco announced April 8 it was temporarily suspending shipments of equipment into the U.S. from overseas plants. Two days later, the company updated its plans, saying “Agco is resuming shipment of certain products into the U.S. from most global locations. Evaluation continues on all actions as we prioritize serving our farmers and dealers while minimizing tariff impact.”

Although it didn’t make any formal announcement, rumours circulated in April that CNH, the parent company of Case IH and New Holland, had also suspended overseas shipments to the U.S.

When asked for comment, CNH replied only that “in North America, we have resumed shipment of sold units. Impact to future orders will be announced at a later time.”

All of that has left equipment manufacturers in a wait-and-see mode.

Agco has said it will continue to keep parts flowing to ensure farmers can service existing machines.

“The shipment of parts into or from the U.S. is not currently impacted by this action,” its statement says.

Shipments to Canada should remain virtually unaffected, though. The counter-tariffs imposed so far include only some mowers. Other ag machinery types aren’t included.

CLARIFICATION, May 10, 2025: Article updated to note Agco‘s April 10 announcement that it had resumed shipments to the U.S. from its overseas plants.

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Grainews recently reviewed some of the features of the newest Drago GT with the vice-president of Dragotec USA, Dustin Bollig. Dragotec is the North American distributor for Drago. He says his family originally imported a Drago header for use on their own farm in Iowa, and found it had a number of design advantages that significantly reduced header losses.

“We were having a lot of header loss from corn heads. What we found with Drago was we were having a lot less header loss, because the deck plates are automatically adjustable. The stalk is pushed through, opening the deck plates with no electronics and no hydraulics. It’s automatic.”

The deck plates are spring-loaded so they are pushed apart by the stalk as it enters the header and don’t allow any gap beside them. That eliminates one possible location where shelled corn can fall through.

While most corn other headers also have adjustable deck plates, their spacing is often set by the operator, with one adjustment across the full header width. That can cause problems when the stand is variable.

“With hydraulic deck plates you only get one decision (across the header width),” he continues, “so most people just set it and forget it. University studies show if you’re off the stalk by an eight of an inch you lose up to four bushels per acre, potentially. You can’t see an eight of an inch from the cab.”

The Drago GT uses a pretty long knife roller, which also helps minimize header losses.

“The other big thing we have is the longest knife rollers in the industry.,” he says. “They’re a third longer. Longer knife rollers give us way more time so we can pull the corn down slower. There’s less ear bounce. We get that from having less tip speed with a smaller diameter. That also allows us to harvest the ear farther back in the machine.

“Most corn heads run the knife rolls so fast all the action happens right in the front. Ears bounce, they can shell and bounce right out of the head.”

To minimize bounce, the hinged deck plates sit on a pair of spring-loaded shock absorbers.

“When the ears hit the deck plates, there’s virtually no bounce,” he says. “And that saves a lot of yield.”

A large diameter front sprocket and overlapping fingers mean the Drago GT can grab downed corn easier and force it up through the knife rollers, without letting the stalk escape.

“That’s where Drago gets its name,” Bollig Says. “It’s like dragon claws trying to bring that in.”

The chopping blades are located back from the tips of the knife rollers to ensure the header has a firm grasp of the stalk before beginning to cut it. For headers with 30-inch or greater row spacings there are two chopping options, a singe or twin chop configuration. Headers below 30-inch spacing are available with only the single chop.

“With the twin chop, they cross each other and that pulverizes the plant, plus they’re split open,” he says. “So it’s better if you want to get rid of residue and work it in.”

A large diameter auger brings material across the header to the feeder house. It and all the other components are entirely gear driven. Drago headers are available from four- to-24 row widths and from 20- to 40-inch row spacings.

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In February 1996, Kubota filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, in which it said the imports of certain light-duty (under 50 horsepower) Kubota tractors from Japan infringed on four federally registered Kubota trademarks in the U.S.

That’s right: to prevent a bunch of third-party companies from shipping Kubotas built for Japanese farmers over to buyers in the U.S., Kubota had to show how Kubota tractors violated Kubota trademarks.

The ITC, during its hearings later that year, ruled that the grey-market Kubotas brought over from Japan had a level of “material difference” from the versions authorized for sale in the U.S. market “sufficient to establish a likelihood of consumer confusion.”

As a remedy, the ITC issued what it calls a “general exclusion order,” preventing the unauthorized grey-market entry of under-50-hp Kubota tractors into the United States, for as long as Kubota continues to hold the relevant U.S. trademarks. It also slapped 11 cease-and-desist orders on the third-party companies moving those units into the U.S.

As Kubota says today, the exclusion order — in effect in the U.S. since the end of April 1997 — was sought “because the unauthorized importation, distribution and sale of Kubota ‘gray market’ tractors by individuals or companies independent of Kubota adversely affected Kubota’s reputation in the United States and with the United States consumer.”

The grey-market tractors, Kubota says, “are not ordinarily equipped with important safety equipment such as (rollover protection systems) and seatbelt, PTO shield, safety decals, or operator’s manual.”

A grey-market Kubota tractor can also be identified by the absence of any English-language safety or operation labels, the company says. If the unit has a serial number plate, the information on it is in Japanese. The tractors may also have Japanese rice paddy tires with much higher thread lugs than U.S. ag tires, and some models may also have no overrunning PTO clutch.

And, as other manufacturers will tell you about the grey-market units bearing their brands, Kubota won’t provide parts, service or warranty support for them, and the company and its authorized U.S. dealers “bear no responsibility whatsoever” for those units. — D.B.

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However, despite the fact this farmer couldn’t bear to leave his favourite machines behind, the cost of importing them may not have offered much value in the long run. Farm machines designed to be sold in markets outside North America don’t meet the same engineering standards required for general use or sale here.

“It’s not against the law for someone to import equipment for personal use, but there are risks that come with it,” says John Schmeiser, president of the North American Equipment Dealers Association. “And that is where the farmer needs to look at the big picture.”

Online research can quickly show used tractors are less expensive in Europe than they are in Canada, he says — “but there is a reason for that.”

Recent difficulties many faced when attempting to buy replacement equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused some to turn to overseas markets to source machines.

In early March, the Alberta Farmers’ Advocate Office issued an advisory to producers to think twice about considering the importation of “grey market” machines designed for sale outside of North America.

The problems, they warn, will sooner or later outweigh the benefits.

“Alberta dealers and distributors cannot provide warranty, service, or repair parts as software programs (and sometimes engines) are different and service data is not available,” the AFAO said in a press release. “What you save on the purchase price may cost you more when you are unable to find parts or repair your equipment.”

Those problems are not just limited to Alberta; they apply to all of North America.

READ MORE: How Kubota blocked the greys: A brief U.S. history lesson

Schmeiser echoes those words: “If the customer thinks they can save a few dollars by importing equipment designed for another market, they will quickly find that it will cost them more in retrofitting, repairs and trade-in value in the long run.

“If a customer imports directly from another country and does not go through the local dealer, that is where the problems may start. First of all, manufacturers design products subject to the legislative and regulatory environment of the country (in which) they wish to sell those products. If the farmer wants to trade in a piece of grey market equipment, the dealer cannot sell it without retrofitting it to ensure it is compliant. So the value drops considerably. A farmer expecting a good portion of their new purchase to be covered by the trade-in value will, as a result, be very disappointed.

“For a dealer to legally work on an imported unit, a licensed dealership shop must retrofit it to North American standards. So even before the mechanics get to the repair, let alone the farmer wanting to trade it in later on, they could have a bill in the thousands of dollars.”

When major manufacturers design new machines for the global market, each model undergoes a homologation process — which means different versions of the same model are designed and built for export to different geographical regions. That can include major design changes, such as the direction of rotation of the PTO shaft, which differs between North America and Europe.

“And [manufacturers] too do not want their product going to a different market,” Schmeiser says. “Lighting and marking, safety decals, PTO requirements are some of the issues that can be different, to name a few.

“Dealers are continuing to face this issue. We have anecdotal reports of increasing ‘grey market’ equipment showing up but can’t really verify it with actual statistics. Going back over the past 15 years, we have seen this issue arise from time to time and these units are problematic.

“We applaud the Alberta Farmers’ Advocate Office for issuing this alert.”

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“This direct import of durum wheat has enriched the structure of China’s imported wheat varieties, facilitated the extension of COFCO’s products upstream and further improved COFCO’s… full industry chain model,” it said in a statement.

COFCO said the durum wheat was purchased by COFCO International and will be transferred to COFCO Haijia (Xiamen) Flour Co. Ltd. for processing.

China has already imported almost two million metric tonnes of durum wheat from Canada this year, according to Chinese customs data.

That does not match Canadian government data, however, which shows China bought no Canadian durum during the past year through September, the most recent month for which data is available.

Chinese purchases of other types of Canadian wheat were larger year-on-year during the 2022-23 crop marketing year, which ended July 31, the Canadian data showed.

The discrepancy is likely due to China’s customs agency classifying wheat differently, said Chuck Penner, a Canadian analyst at LeftField Commodity Research.

READ MORE: High pasta prices set to boil over as Canada’s wheat withers

He said Canada does not have enough durum to sell such a large volume during the year to Chinese buyers and still supply regular importers in the U.S., north Africa and Europe.

Canada accounts for around half of the global trade of durum, a type of hard wheat used to make pasta.

China has imported record volumes of wheat this year, with rain damage to its crop and worries over dry weather in exporting nations fuelling Beijing’s appetite to buy while prices are low.

The world’s largest wheat consumer has imported 10.83 million tonnes of wheat in the first 10 months of this year, a 37.7 per cent surge from a year ago, customs data showed.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mei Mei Chu; additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg.

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Canada imported 91,100 tonnes of corn from the U.S. during the week ended Nov. 2, taking the marketing-year-to-date total to 221,700 tonnes, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That’s nearly five times what moved during the same period the previous year.

An additional 576,200 tonnes of previously reported business are still outstanding, which compares with 102,600 tonnes at the same time in 2022.

Total Canadian corn imports are forecast to hit three million tonnes in 2023-24, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada data. That would be up from the 2.1 million tonnes imported the previous year, but still well below the 6.1 million tonnes brought up during the 2021-22 drought year.

While more U.S. corn is being imported, Canada’s own feed grain exports are down on the year. Canada exported 471,000 tonnes of barley through the first 13 weeks of the 2023-24 crop year, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. That compares with 756,300 tonnes at the same point the previous year.

Monthly Statistics Canada data through September shows that while China remained the largest customer, both malt and feed barley movement was down sharply on the year. Total Canadian malt barley exports through two months, at about 75,000 tonnes, compared with over 200,000 at the same point the previous year. Feed barley exports, of only 45,000 tonnes, were only about a quarter of what moved in August and September 2022.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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France has been among the countries worst affected by an unprecedented global spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza that has disrupted supply of poultry and eggs and sent prices rocketing in many parts of the world in the past years.

To fight the spread of the disease it started vaccinating 64 million ducks early this month, making it the first poultry exporter to do so and raising hope among foie gras producers that it would put an end to the crisis.

Producer group Cifog forecast foie gras output will rise 20 per cent in 2023 to 9,855 metric tonnes after a drop of 35 per cent in 2022, but still 26 per cent below the average of the five previous years and half the volume produced 10 years earlier.

Higher production costs, including part of vaccination, will lead to another rise in foie gras prices, pegged at five per cent this year, it said.

On the export front, France’s bird flu vaccination campaign prompted several countries to impose a ban on French poultry imports, including Japan, France’s main foie gras export market outside Europe with a share of 10 per cent in value.

Canada and the U.S. also imposed bans, Cifog added.

Although more and more governments have been looking at vaccination as a way to contain the virus, most of the world’s biggest poultry producers have resisted vaccination due to concerns it could mask the spread of bird flu and prompt trade bans.

— Sybille de La Hamaide is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Paris.

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While nearby demand is keeping the domestic market reasonably steady, more corn will likely start making its way north over the next month.

Feed barley is currently trading in the $320-$330 per tonne area in the Lethbridge area, according to an update from grain brokerage Agfinity. That compares with levels closer to $400 per tonne back in August before the harvest, but still well above bids at the same time a year ago around $240-$250 per tonne.

“Feed barley prices in Western Canada have now dropped far enough to discourage more imports of U.S. corn and should support more domestic feeding of barley,” Leftfield Commodity Research said in a report compiled for the Manitoba Crop Alliance.

The U.S. corn harvest was nearing the halfway mark in the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture crop report. Meanwhile, U.S. export data shows 741,400 tonnes of U.S. corn sales to Canada already on the books for movement during the current marketing year, which compares with only 25,200 tonnes of outstanding business at the same time the previous year. Canada has imported 45,800 tonnes of U.S. corn during the marking year that began Sept. 1, which compares with 24,700 tonnes at the same time in 2022.

Canada’s barley production was down in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to Statistics Canada data, although better-than-expected provincial yield reports indicate that the actual crop may end up above the 7.8 million tonnes currently forecast by StatCan.

Canada has exported 234,500 tonnes of barley through the first 10 weeks of the 2023-24 marketing year, roughly half of what moved during the same time the previous year.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced the temporary ban Tuesday, following France’s move to require mandatory vaccination against highly pathogenic avian flu (HPAI) in ducks raised for meat production starting this month.

CFIA said it has been in “close contact” with French and European Union officials on the matter since June, and received a presentation in July from France on that country’s HPAI vaccination plan.

France’s plan was announced after the European Union passed legislation in March on use of vaccination to mitigate animal disease outbreaks.

The French plan requires vaccinations of ducks for meat production. Vaccination of breeder ducks is permitted, but only for birds that will not be exported.

However, CFIA said, it’s not yet clear whether meat from vaccinated ducks will be eligible for export to other countries — nor how France plans to identify, trace and control vaccinated breeding stock.

CFIA said it’s “currently conducting” its risk assessment, and until that evaluation is complete, the suspension will be in effect.

The agency’s suspension on imports from France applies to live birds and hatching eggs; all unprocessed avian and poultry products and byproducts, including “edible or inedible” raw poultry meat, eggs, feathers, poultry manure and litter; laboratory material containing poultry products or byproducts; and any raw or unprocessed pet food containing poultry products or byproducts.

Cooked and canned or hermetically sealed, commercially sterile meat products are still eligible for import, CFIA said.

France, like Canada, the U.S. and many other countries, has seen its poultry industry hard hit by outbreaks of HPAI in the past couple of years.

CFIA reports that as of Sept. 21, Canada’s run of HPAI outbreaks since December 2021 has impacted an estimated 7.678 million domestic birds.

A lull in cases since May this year ended in September, as CFIA detected five outbreaks during the month including four premises in Alberta and one in southwestern Saskatchewan.

READ MORE: France stacks the deck against bird flu but risks issues

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serice (APHIS) on Friday also announced such a ban, also taking effect Oct. 1.

APHIS’ ban applies on imports of poultry from France, as well as live ducks, duck eggs, and “unmitigated/untreated” duck products from the APHIS-recognized European Poultry Trade Region (EPTR) as well as Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Great Britain is not included in the EPTR ban.

The U.S. doesn’t allow poultry from countries affected with HPAI “or from flocks that have been vaccinated by HPAI,” APHIS said in a release Friday.

Vaccination of poultry against HPAI “may mask HPAI virus circulating in poultry,” APHIS said, and vaccinated birds “may not show signs of infection, which could lead to the export of infected live animals or virus-contaminated products to the United States.”

Furthermore, APHIS said, EU member states and other non-EU countries in Europe have open access to the European common market for trade in avian commodities.

“With the way poultry moves under the EPTR, we currently cannot be assured countries trading in the European common market can reliably certify that exports do not originate from European countries that vaccinate poultry for HPAI,” APHIS said.

“Accordingly, these restrictions address the risk of open trade within Europe while accounting for the higher risk with imports from France.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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