The Winning with Hay series launched in September of 2026. This series explores the business and agronomy aspects of commercial hay production in Ontario. Commercial hay production is a thrilling, high management, high volume/capacity business that these farmers are into for many reasons including profitability, diversity, labour management, crop rotation benefits, sustainability and soil health benefits. But surprisingly, they love the enhanced challenge of producing that high quality product that the very diverse hay market wants. Most of these farmers are also in the hay business because they enjoy the challenge of the direct marketing of a crop that they make happen locally, regionally, and internationally. This is not the grain crop that you can deliver to any elevator or feed mill across the province. With one exception, this group are all grain producers but the hay business is their main crop despite in most cases, higher acreage of grain crops in their operations.
While there are various ways to become engaged in the “hay business”, these producers enjoy the de-risking of the crop that they are responsible for individually. There is no Chicago Board of Trade, network of elevators and feed mills or organized marketplace to sell your product. You make your own market in the hay business whether that is direct sales and delivery, or working through brokers, coops or other arrangements. There is a significant amount of producer to buyer contact that we don’t have in other crop types that these folks all enjoy the challenge of.
This is not “your grandfathers hay crop”! The pace of modern commercial hay production is fast and furious. The capacity and speed of production and harvest is amazing. There is more management that goes into high quality hay production and it is capital intense and doesn’t offer much of a break through the busy summer season. The technology of hay production has evolved to a place where modern storage, drying and processing facilities have gone a long way to making commercial hay production a very viable opportunity if you are willing to put the work in and seek the advice of great hay producers like these farmers.
Come explore why and how these farmers are into commercial hay production and how to join in the fun! They have a lot in common but they all have their unique approaches to production and marketing that show the breadth of opportunity to be in the hay business. There just isn’t anything like the feeling and smells of producing a high value, high quality hay crop and getting it stored away safely and sold to direct buyers. Three of the farms are also into Switchgrass production that we explore as well.
We are on your behalf extremely thankful for these individuals to share their passion, experience and insights on what it takes to be and succeed in the commercial hay business. The series will roll out every couple of weeks going forward from September 2026 until the 9 episodes are published.
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