Importing & Exporting Agricultural Equipment: The Power, Potency & Plentitude of Paperwork

So you want to tap into the world of agriculture importing and exporting? It’s a great idea and the market is growing! As discussed in our previous article, agricultural equipment between Canada and the United State is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s growing. On top of that, there is a surge in agritech (agricultural technology) that is changing the look of the modern farm. No matter what happens to the economy, and it appears we’re already in a bear market, there will always be a demand for food and grain, so technology and machinery will always hold value. If you need a quick refresher on what types of machinery you can import into Canada, here’s a quick overview.

Getting started: importing heavy machinery between Canada and the United States of America

For importing into Canada from the USA or for importing heavy equipment from Canada to the USA, there are a lot of requirements to comply with. There is paperwork explicitly laying out emission regulations that must be met before machinery can be imported or exported. They’re largely similar requirements for the CPB (Canada) and the EPA (USA), but they are complex.To import heavy equipment from Canada you’ll need to comply with requirements in place through Due to the complexity of ensuring compliance with these rules, many importers work with a Licensed Customs Broker to import these products.

The basics

Before you start your importing adventure, there are a few essential pieces of documentation that must ALWAYS be completed well beforehand (recommended 7-10 days before anticipated shipment date). You will need:

• Commercial Invoice or Canada Customs Invoice
• Manifest or Cargo Control Document
• Bill of Lading
• Shipper’s Export Declaration

For our American exporters, a properly filled out Canada Customs Invoice is arguably your most important document to have - and have it filled out correctly. Any errors could mean your shipment is rejected, an expensive, frustrating and avoidable scenario.A surprising factor in how long your shipment process could take that is particularly important for farm equipment - weight matters. Rather, for U.S. exporters shipping equipment to Canada, the weight of the load will impact the time as heavier loads often need to move more slowly. Thus, there will be an increase in the transportation time for crossing the borders, too.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

Working with a reliable customs broker provides you with many things, perhaps the biggest is ensuring you have the right documentation for clearing the U.S. - Canada borders quickly, securely and seamlessly. The paperwork changes based on the value of the shipment and whether the shipments include regulated goods or not. Agricultural equipment that originates from Canada or the United States isn’t typically regulated, but pieces coming from other parts of the world, like any areas impacted by the Ukraine/Russia war, delays are to be expected.Almost $700B of goods is shipped to Canada from the U.S. each year, and the success of those goods crossing with ease rests on paperwork. Talking with a BorderBuddy expert will answer questions for you that Google can’t, and provide up to date information on how the market is impacting the financial yield you can hope for with importing and exporting farm equipment between Canada and the USA. Plus, they’ll be able to chat about other market factors, like any sanctions that could impact importing. They’re keen to chat, so if you’re curious, reach out!