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March intentions of principal field crops areas
Prairie farmers may increase plantings of canola by 4.7% from the record area planted in 2009, while the area seeded to durum wheat is reported to drop by a third from 2009. In the East, farmers expect a slight increase in soybean area.
Canola acreage may climb to record levels
Early indications are that Prairie farmers may plant a record area of 16.8 million acres of canola, an increase of 4.7% (760,000 acres) over 2009. This would be the fourth consecutive annual increase in canola area in the prairies.
Most of the increase is expected in Saskatchewan where farmers reported a new high of 8.6 million acres, an increase of 700,000 acres over the 2009 seeded area. Farmers in Alberta reported that they may plant 5.1 million acres, an additional 100,000 acres from 2009. Manitoba farmers may drop seeded area by 40,000 acres from 2009 to an estimated 3.2 million acres.
Area for durum wheat should fall
In contrast to canola, Prairie farmers anticipate seeding considerably less durum wheat, a possible drop of 2.0 million acres or 34.9% to 3.7 million acres. This decline in seeded area appears to be primarily farmers' reaction to unattractive prices as a result of large world carry-in stocks from 2009.
In Saskatchewan where the majority of Canadian durum is grown, farmers may seed 3.2 million acres, a drop of 32.3%, and Alberta farmers could plant 485,000 acres, 47.8% less compared to 2009.
More soybean area possible
Total soybean seeded area could rise 2.5% from 2009 to 3.5 million acres.
Ontario soybean seeded area should rise by 50,000 acres to 2.5 million acres, while in Quebec the area seeded to soybeans is reported to remain at the 2009 area of 598,000 acres.
Soybean area in Manitoba is expected to rise 8.4% to a new high of 450,000 acres. By contrast, only 50,000 acres of soybeans was seeded in Manitoba in 2001 when we first began recording them in that province. Acreage has been increasing in that province since that time.
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