SASKATOON, Sask. — Rising equipment costs tied to ongoing trade tensions are adding pressure to planned upgrades at Saskatchewan environmental consulting company Seed2Leaf.
Seed2Leaf Environmental Consulting founder Daryl Wright said the company recently learned that the cost of equipment upgrades planned for this year had increased, adding another challenge for a business that relies on supplies and machinery from a range of international manufacturers.
“We just found out that our equipment upgrades planned this year have increased. We are feeling the tariffs,” said Wright, adding that the company intends to apply for the Regional Tariff Response Initiative but is uncertain whether the application will result in financial assistance.
Seed2Leaf is an industrial vegetation management company serving industries such as potash, utilities and other businesses that require environmental and vegetation-related services, and its diverse supplier network has helped it source specialized equipment needed for its operations.
“From an equipment perspective, we’ve got American-made equipment, Italian pumps, Australian hose reels and hose. We also use Canadian manufacturing for aluminum components from Edmonton, along with some products from China,” Wright said.
Wright said the Canada-U.S. trade dispute has so far affected Seed2Leaf more indirectly, with potential effects emerging through the industries and businesses it serves, and that the company has not yet experienced a broad impact across its operations.
He added that the company has heard concerns about potential effects on products such as herbicides. Although those impacts have not materialized for Seed2Leaf, the company generally uses plastics and polyethylene products manufactured in Canada.
“Normally what we purchase is all manufactured in Canada, but I think that we could be, you know, we in Saskatchewan here, we work in the potash industry, we work for utilities, so we could see that kind of trickle down as it affects both businesses,” Wright said.
In response to the trade uncertainty, Seed2Leaf is continuing to prioritize Canadian suppliers wherever possible, with some of the company’s highly technical equipment still needing to be sourced internationally. Still, custom manufacturing work is carried out in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
“Lots of the products that we use are either highly technical, and they come from countries like Italy or Australia, but then for our manufacturing, our custom stuff is all done either in Alberta or Saskatchewan here,” said Wright.
Despite the challenges associated with tariffs and equipment costs, Wright said Seed2Leaf is exploring opportunities to expand its knowledge through international partnerships with entrepreneurs and technology providers from G20 countries to identify innovations that could benefit the company’s work in biodiversity and invasive-species management.
Wright said emerging technologies, including camera-based artificial intelligence systems that can identify invasive species along highways, could offer new opportunities for the environmental consulting sector. However, he emphasized that the company’s immediate focus remains on the Prairie market, where demand for its services continues and international connections could allow Seed2Leaf to learn from other countries while sharing its own approaches to environmental management and biodiversity protection.
