Happy Saturday!
Grab your coffee, kick the mud off your boots, and let's see which stories actually made you stop scrolling this week.
It was a heavy one: tariffs jumped, farm-aid math got scary, and China's buying spree came with an expiry date.
Ranked from five up to the week's runaway winner — here's what Prairie readers clicked most.
#5. Canada's 10th-Place Food Export Ranking Is Slipping
Canada punches way above its weight: 0.5% of the world's population, yet the 10th-largest food exporter on Earth. A new report says Ottawa's food strategy isn't doing enough to protect that edge. We also dug into camelina's make-or-break moment and a landowner win that could set a precedent north of the border.
#4. Trump Imposes 50% Tariffs on Canada as Trade War Escalates
Trump slapped fresh 50% tariffs on Canadian wine and cement, and the trade war just kept climbing. We covered the fallout, Nutrien's new TERRAMAR biologic landing on 250,000 Prairie acres, and the growing debate over whether farm aid is quietly propping up U.S. land prices.
#3. China's Ag Buying Spree Has a Shelf Life, Lighthizer Warns
Former USTR Robert Lighthizer poured cold water on China's $17-billion ag buying spree, calling it a short-term play, not a long-term relationship. We also met the 22-year-old who built a $30,000 planter from scratch, and dug into the Saskatchewan water-licence enforcement gap nobody's watching.
#2. US Farm Crisis Echoes the 1980s as Margins Vanish
Margins are getting squeezed hard enough that analysts are dusting off 1980s farm-crisis comparisons, never a good sign. We looked at whether U.S. farmland has finally peaked, and priced out what losing glyphosate would actually cost corn and soybean growers.
#1. US Farm Aid Could Hit $360 a Taxpayer. Bridge or Pier?
Washington's asking for another $11.1 billion in farm aid, pushing total 2026 support past $55 billion. That works out to roughly $360 per taxpayer, and we dug into whether it's a bridge to better prices or a permanent pier propping up a leaky boat. Bonus: the 100-foot drills that stole the show at Ag in Motion, and Washington's $35-million feral hog fight with a Prairie punchline.
That's a wrap on the week that was. Tariffs climbed, aid checks grew, and China's shopping cart came with fine print — but you're still here, coffee in hand, reading the fine print with us.
See you Monday. 🌾