Canadian producers expected to plant more canola and oats this year
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Canadian farmers are expected to plant more canola, soybeans and oats in 2017, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.
The March 2017 principal field crop report also suggests farmers will plant fewer acres of durum wheat and lentils this year than in 2016.
Wheat
On a national level, Canadian producers intend to plant 23.2 million acres of wheat, with Western Canada accounting for about 95 per cent of the total acreage.
Alberta farmers plan to increase seeding by 10 per cent to 7.4 million acres but to decrease durum acres by 8.5 per cent to 1.1 million acres.
In Saskatchewan, wheat acreage is estimated to decrease by 2.7 per cent to 11.8 million acres. Durum acreage is estimated to drop by 18.8 per cent to 4.1 million acres, according to the report.
Manitoba producers estimate they’ll plant 2.7 million acres of wheat, a drop of 9 per cent from last year.
Canola
Farmers could seed nearly 22.4 million acres of canola in 2017, which is an increase of 9.9 per cent, according to Stats Canada.
Saskatchewan’s acreage could reach 12.3 million acres, up 10.6 per cent from 2016.
Alberta canola growers expect to increase their acreage by 14.6 per cent to 6.8 million acres.
Manitoba’s canola farmers could drop their seeded acres by 1.7 per cent to 3.1 million acres.
Soybeans
Canadian farmers said they intend to increase soybean acres by 27.2 per cent from 2016 to 7 million acres, according to the report.
Manitoba could account for the largest provincial increase, with growers planning to up their soybean acreage by 34.6 per cent to 2.2 million acres.
Ontario producers plan to seed 3 million acres, an increase of 11.4 per cent from last year.
Quebec soybean producers expect to plant 926,000 acres, up 15.4 per cent from 2016.
Barley and oats
Producers across Canada said they plan to seed 8 per cent less barley than in 2016, with total acreage dropping to 5.9 million acres nationally, says Stats Canada.
But oat acreage is expected to be on the rise in most provinces to 3.4 million acres nationally.
Alberta only plans to seed 690,000 acres, a 4.2 per cent decrease from 2016.
Corn for grain
Nationally, corn producers expect to increase their acreage by 12.8 per cent to 3.8 million acres.
Ontario and Quebec farmers will have increase their cultivation of corn by 9.6 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively.
Producers in Manitoba expect to seed 475,000 acres of corn for grain, which is an increase of 37.7 per cent from last year, according to the report.