Canadian farmers plan to plant more beans, oats and durum wheat in 2024.
Corn and soybean acreage is expected to be similar to last year, while wheat and canola acreage is expected to decline slightly. Statistics Canada Cropland Area Estimates It was released on Monday, March 11th.
Most of the estimates were within the range that the industry had expected, with the largest exception being lower than expected pea and lentil acreage growth.
Nationwide, farmers plan to plant 27 million acres of wheat, up 0.1 percent from last year, according to the statistics bureau. Durum wheat area is expected to increase by more than 5 percent to 6.3 million acres, spring wheat area is expected to fall 1.2 percent to 19.2 million acres, and winter wheat area is expected to fall 3.6 percent to 1.5 million acres.
Canola area is projected to decline 3.1 per cent to 21.4 million acres in 2024, driven mainly by a roughly 5 per cent decline in Saskatchewan.
Nationwide, soybean acres were planted to 5.6 million acres, down 0.9 percent from last year, as increases in acreage in Ontario were offset by declines in Manitoba and Quebec.
Corn acreage is expected to grow 1.6 per cent nationwide to 3.9 million acres, with further gains in Manitoba and Quebec.
Oat area is expected to rebound to 3.1 million acres, up 21.6% from last year, while barley area is expected to decline slightly in 2024 to 7.1 million acres.
In addition to oats, Western farmers are also planning to plant lentils, which are expected to be planted to 3.8 million acres, up 4.4% from last year, at the low end of the pre-report trade forecast. Pea acreage is expected to grow 2.4% to 3.1 million acres in 2024.
Other low-area crops such as chickpeas, canaryseed and dry beans are also expected to see a significant increase in area under cultivation.
The Statistics Bureau’s field crop survey results are based on a survey of around 9,600 farmers carried out two months ago (December 14, 2023 to January 22, 2024), so it’s quite possible that further changes have occurred since farmers were asked.
The agency is expected to release updated acreage estimates in June.
