Stocks of principal field crops, December 31, 2014
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Released: 2015-02-04
As of December 31, 2014, total stocks of most principal field crops were down from the same date in 2013. As such, they reflected a downward trend seen in production, which also decreased from 2013 to 2014. However, both on-farm and commercial stocks of soybeans were at record levels as of December 31.
Total stocks of wheat decreased 13.5% from December 31, 2013, to 24.8 million tonnes, following a 22.0% decrease in wheat production in 2014. On-farm stocks totalled 20.8 million tonnes, down 17.8% from the record high of 25.3 million tonnes in 2013. On the other hand, commercial stocks were up 19.6% to 4.0 million tonnes.
Overall canola stocks stood at 11.1 million tonnes as of December 31, 2014, down 10.5% from December 31, 2013. On-farm stock levels fell 13.9% to 9.9 million tonnes, closely reflecting the 13.4% drop in production in 2014. Commercial stock levels rose 32.8% over the same period to 1.2 million tonnes.
Total stocks of corn for grain totalled 9.7 million tonnes on December 31, 2014, down 16.6% from the record level of 11.6 million tonnes at December 31, 2013. This decline resulted from a 16.2% decrease in on-farm stocks and an 18.0% drop in commercial stocks.
Total stocks of oats fell 12.7% from December 31, 2013, to 2.5 million tonnes on December 31, 2014, with on-farm stocks down 13.3% to 2.3 million tonnes. Commercial stocks declined 4.7% to 177 300 tonnes.
Barley stocks decreased 20.3% from December 31, 2013, to 5.4 million tonnes on December 31, 2014. The decline was mostly due to a 21.6% drop in on-farm stocks to 5.1 million tonnes.
Overall soybean stocks rose 29.4% from December 31, 2013, to a record 3.5 million tonnes on December 31, 2014, surpassing the previous high of 2.8 million tonnes reported on December 31, 2011. Commercial stocks rose 57.1% to 1.2 million tonnes, while stocks held on farms increased 18.0% to 2.3 million tonnes.
Note to readers
The December Farm Survey of 8,683 Canadian farms is a survey of stocks of principal field crops conducted from January 2 to 12, 2015. Farmers were asked to report the amounts of grain, oilseeds and special crops in on-farm storage. Similar to the Farm Survey conducted in March 2014, two additional questions were asked during the December Farm Survey, pertaining to permanent on-farm grain storage capacity and the percentage of grain stored on farms using temporary storage methods. Such grain storage capacity estimates will be available upon request as of February 19.
Data on commercial stocks of western major crops originate from the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). Starting August 1, 2013, however, the CGC changed its reporting to exclude "in transit" stocks from the total commercial stocks. In general, the "in transit" stocks represent up to 1% of total stocks depending on the crop. In the next release of Stocks of Principle Field Crops at March 31, 2015, to be released on May 6, an adjustment to account for the treatment of "in transit" stocks will be made retroactively.
Estimates for commercial stocks of corn and soybeans are derived from a Statistics Canada sample of grain elevators in Eastern Canada. Data on commercial stocks of special crops originate from a survey of handlers and agents of special crops.
Release calendar: The dates for upcoming releases from the field crop reporting series are available online: stocks of principal field crops, principal field crop areas as well as production of principal field crops.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
- Date modified: