Record diesel costs add up to $106,000 for Sask. farms

Record-high diesel prices could add between $68,000 and $106,000 to the 2026 fuel bill of a 2,000-hectare canola farm in Saskatchewan, Farm Credit Canada said in a report released Oct. 22.

The Crown corporation, which provides financing and advice to agriculture and agri-food businesses, said the higher fuel costs are squeezing margins that were already tight.

Natural Resources Canada said the national average price of diesel was $2.68 a litre for the week ended Tuesday, up from $1.50 a litre in the same week of 2025.

The report said diesel is only one contributor to food inflation, and that its effect on grocery bills has not yet been felt.

The pressure reaches beyond the farm gate. Factory-gate diesel prices have doubled as Canada’s industrial product price index climbed 14.5 per cent, and a diesel spike could make winter groceries pricier. Diesel has followed crude higher, as WTI topped US$100 a barrel amid fears over the Strait of Hormuz.

For Prairie producers, who burn diesel in tractors, combines and grain trucks and haul crops long distances to port, the fuel bill is one of the largest costs they cannot easily cut.

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Source: Farm Credit Canada report and Natural Resources Canada fuel prices, via The Canadian Press, Oct. 22, 2026.