Principal field crop areas, 2026

Released: 2026-03-05

Canadian farmers expect to plant more canola, barley, soybeans and corn for grain in 2026, while they anticipate area seeded to wheat, oats, lentils and dry peas to decrease compared with the previous year.

Wheat

At the national level, farmers anticipate planting 26.7 million acres of wheat in 2026, down 1.1% from the previous year. If this anticipation is realized, national wheat area would remain well above the five-year average, despite a decrease from 2025, which would likely be attributable to continued strong global demand.

Producers expect spring wheat area to edge down 0.1% to 18.8 million acres in 2026. They anticipate durum wheat area to decrease 2.4% to 6.4 million acres, while they expect winter wheat area to fall 6.7% to 1.6 million acres.

Farmers in Saskatchewan anticipate planting 13.9 million acres of wheat in 2026, down 1.0% from the previous year. Producers expect spring wheat area to fall 0.6% to 8.7 million acres, while they anticipate durum wheat area to remain at 5.1 million acres.

In Alberta, farmers expect total wheat area to edge up 0.3% to 8.1 million acres because of higher spring wheat area (+3.6% to 6.8 million acres). Meanwhile, they expect durum wheat area (-11.8% to 1.2 million acres) to decrease.

Manitoba farmers anticipate planting 3.1 million acres of wheat in 2026, down 5.1% from one year earlier.

Canola

Farmers expect canola area to increase 1.0% to 21.8 million acres in 2026, roughly in line with the five-year average. Higher anticipated seeded area may be led by strong domestic demand as processing capacity continues to expand.

In Saskatchewan, where most of the country's canola is grown, producers anticipate seeded area of canola to rise 0.5% to 12.2 million acres.

In Alberta, farmers expect seeded area of canola to increase 0.7% to 6.3 million acres.

Farmers in Manitoba anticipate seeding 3.2 million acres of canola in 2026, up 4.7% from the previous year.

Soybeans

Nationally, farmers anticipate planting 5.9 million acres of soybeans in 2026, up 1.9% from 2025.

In Ontario, the province that produces the most soybeans, farmers expect to plant more acres of soybeans in 2026, rising 0.2% to 2.9 million acres.

Manitoba is expected to lead the national increase in soybean acreage, rising 12.9% to 1.9 million acres. If this expectation is realized, this would be the highest soybean area in the province since 2018, possibly because of low input costs relative to other crops.

In Quebec, producers expect soybean seeded area to decrease 5.0% to 1.0 million acres in 2026.

Barley and oats

Nationwide, farmers expect barley acreage to rise 5.0% to 6.4 million acres in 2026.

Farmers expect barley area to increase in both Saskatchewan (+7.9% to 2.4 million acres) and Alberta (+5.2% to 3.5 million acres), while they expect it to decline in Manitoba (-1.6% to 304,400 acres).

Producers expect oat area to fall 3.1% compared with one year earlier to 2.9 million acres in 2026, possibly because of high oat stocks resulting from high production in 2025.

Corn for grain

At the national level, farmers expect to plant 3.8 million acres of corn for grain in 2026, up 1.7% from one year earlier.

The increase in corn for grain area is led by Ontario, where more than 60% of all corn for grain in Canada is grown. Farmers anticipate planting 2.3 million acres of corn for grain in 2026, up 5.4% from 2025. If this occurs, it would be a record area for the province, surpassing the previous record set in 2022.

Quebec farmers expect to plant less corn for grain in 2026, falling 1.5% to 841,500 acres. Manitoba producers also reported anticipating lower area, falling 5.3% to 586,800 acres, a level still above the five-year average for the province.

Lentils and dry peas

Producers expect area seeded to lentils to decrease 5.5% compared with one year earlier to 4.1 million acres in 2026, possibly because of high stocks resulting from a large crop production in 2025. In Saskatchewan, where almost 90% of Canada's lentils are grown, farmers expect seeded area to fall 4.3% to 3.6 million acres in 2026. Meanwhile, farmers in Alberta expect lentil area to decrease 13.4% to 489,500 acres.

Farmers across Canada expect to plant fewer acres of dry peas in 2026; they anticipate area for dry peas to fall 12.3% from 2025 to 3.1 million acres. In 2026, farmers expect seeded area to fall 16.6% to 1.5 million acres in Saskatchewan, and they anticipate it falling 3.9% to 1.4 million acres in Alberta. The national decrease is likely the result of lower returns relative to other crops because of tariffs in place from importing countries.

Contact information

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