Freight of crops

Freight of crops tends to demonstrate volatile figures. While crops are sold directly as is or as an input for other food products, market needs for food tends to remain stable as food is a non-discretionary product for households. However, in any country, crop yields, which impact the freight of crops, can be affected by weather patterns. Furthermore, crops that can be stored for long periods may not be sold in the same year, depending on the crop's market price. Wheat and canola are the principal crops that are transported via freight. Wheat accounts for nearly half of all crops transported in a year.

The freight of crops increased drastically in 2020 as wheat tonnage transported increased during the pandemic. This was driven partly by rising demand for pasta and flour as consumers stockpiled certain products due to economic uncertainties. In 2021, the transportation of wheat declined because of lower wheat production, mainly driven by lower anticipated yields and less harvested area. The decrease in wheat area in 2021 is mainly attributed to spring wheat, affected by drought conditions in Western Canada. Likewise, freight of canola declined in 2021 as drought conditions in the Prairies drove yields to their lowest level in a decade, offsetting higher harvested area.

In 2022, transportation volumes for crops fell 15.1% in the year as the presence of a drought did impact the rate at which certain agricultural crops were harvested or produced in the year, which affected freight activity in the year for various reasons. The invasion of Ukraine from Russia in the year also played a role in affecting trade with Russia through sanctions placed on the country in the year which included various imports from the country related to agricultural products like grain. However, freight transportation for crops went up by 22.5% in 2023, with strong trading activity helping drive up the freight volume of crops. The presence of drought conditions is set to pressure certain amounts of crops from expanding more thoroughly in 2024. Still, robustness in the domestic market amid strong amounts of planting from the previous year that had escalated levels of agriculture production will help scale up harvests and production of more crops in the period. While these factors remain, escalation of the number of people in the country and more trade volumes will also encourage more transportation activity for such inputs as they remain key to producing goods that are commonly bought, like feed and food. Activity in the freight of crops will expand in 2024 and 2025 as such factors expand.