We are now starting to see some of the agronomic choices Saskatchewan farmers made this spring. It shows up in data related to volume of things such as inputs and crop protection products flowing through the supply chain.
StatsCan’s June update on traffic in the wholesale sector shows sales in a wide range of products dropped off. Among them was the wholesale movement of agricultural products which were off about five per cent compared to last year.
The federal agency says we generally see a decline in volumes of fertilizer moving through wholesalers’ warehouses in June because seeding is completed. They note this year they also tracked the lower sales volumes in chemicals and it even brought some small price reductions.
Ag is a big chunk of the wholesale in Saskatchewan so it is quite noticeable in overall provincial data. Sales for the wholesale sector fell more than eight per cent in June which left us about five per cent behind where we were at the end of the first half of 2023.
