Grain farmer 'racing against time' to avoid potential Trump tariffs

The ever-changing tariff threats from the Trump administration have caused some businesses to start shipping their products to the U.S. earlier than normal to lock in pricing. 

That includes grain farmer Landon Friesen, co-owner of Southman Ag Ventures. His facilities are based just outside of Crystal City, a small Manitoba community less than 200 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

As his farm is only about an hour's drive from an agricultural terminal in Langdon, N.D., Friesen has regularly sold grains such as wheat directly to U.S. customers.

Typically, wheat harvested in the fall would be held in Canadian silos for months, and transported over most of the winter to the U.S.

Not this year. Friesen says work that would normally be spread out "over quite a few months" is now being done in two months. 

"It's been a busy season of just pushing hard to get as much across as we can before the potential tariff. We don't know if he'll [Donald Trump] extend it again or if this is going to be it," he said.

At one point recently, he was making the trip across the border three times a day.

Friesen and industry groups, say the proposed tariffs would likely lower the price Americans are willing or able to pay for Canadian agricultural products. 

Friesen expects a 25 per cent tariff would take at least as much off the price he gets for his grains. By moving it across the border now, he avoids risking that loss.

"Our bottom line isn't big enough to absorb that," he said, pointing out that his total wheat crop this year is going to North Dakota. He's got 230 loads to transport, and CBC News rode along with him and No. 228.

That compares to the same time in 2024, when Friesen says he'd only taken 15 to 20 per cent of his wheat across the border. 

"The grain won't go bad, but our markets are going to close down, or the tariff will hurt the markets. And that's what we're racing against time," he said.

It's unclear how much grain is crossing the border earlier than usual this year. In 2023, Canada exported more than $1 billion of wheat to the U.S.

CHS, the terminal operator in Langdon, says it's monitoring the looming tariffs closely and will work to ensure access to global trade routes for American farmers.