THE BRANDON SUN • WESTMAN BUSINESS • OCTOBER 24, 2026
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Wheat City Seeds partner Al Martin takes a sample of forage peas while they’re unloaded at the company’s operation just east of Kemnay. Martin says Wheat City sells forage peas along with seeds for cover crops and other annual forage seeds into the United States. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun) Westman businesses feel tariff pressures, look for new opportunities
But across the region, businesses say the trade war is changing the way they think about costs, customers, suppliers and mar- kets, even as some see opportunities emerg- ing from the uncertainty. The impact on the agricultural equip- ment business has not come from one tar- iff or one product, but from a collection of smaller increases that have added up, Ma- zer Group president Ben Voss said. The company is a dealer rather than a manufacturer and serves customers throughout the Westman. It buys equip- ment and products from U.S. suppliers, as well as Canadian manufacturers whose own production costs can be affected by tariffs
on imported materials and components. “It’s not one impact, but rather a series of smaller impacts that, together, have a significant harmful effect,” he told the Sun. “Many of the products we import from the United States are now subject to duties be- cause of Canada’s counter-tariffs. We also sell farm equipment from several compa- nies, some Canadian and some American, and all are facing higher costs because of tariffs on steel and aluminum.” The company has been looking for alter- native suppliers where possible, but when there is no alternative, higher costs have to be absorbed or passed along to customers. The pressure is also being felt indirectly
through farmers, who are also feeling the effects of higher fertilizer and diesel fuel prices. Higher fuel prices make it harder for them to turn a profit, he said. “That af- fects us indirectly because when farmers have less money to work with, they tend to spend less on equipment.” For Westman Lumber Supply, the chal- lenge is also less about products disap- pearing from shelves than the price of get- ting them there. The company has been dealing with tar- iff increases, surcharges and higher freight costs, particularly on products such as fasteners and other metal items, general manager Kevin Fast said.
BY ABIOLA ODUTOLA F or some Westman businesses, the Canada- U.S. trade dispute is showing up in higher prices. For others, it is showing up as uncer- tainty — a question about whether the products they buy or sell will be caught in the next round of tariffs and for some, the impact so far has been little more than noise.
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