Canada: Area planted to barley, wheat sees notable increase in 2023

Area planted to wheat in Canada surged to its highest level in more than two decades, one of several crops to see an uptick in planting in 2023, according to the June 2023 field crop survey from Statistics Canada released June 28.

In addition to wheat, other crops with notable increases in plantings in 2023 included canola, barley, corn for grain and soybeans. Fewer acres were planted for oats, lentils and dry peas, Statistics Canada said.

“Favorable conditions across Western Canada allowed producers to complete seeding in a timely manner,” Statistics Canada said. “In Alberta, seeding was nearly complete by the end of May, just ahead of the average, owing to warm and dry conditions. Planting in Saskatchewan and Manitoba was slightly behind the 5- and 10-year averages because of excess moisture in some areas.

“In Eastern Canada, seeding progressed well due to favorable field conditions. Producers in Ontario and Quebec had completed most seeding by mid-May due to near-normal temperatures and dry conditions, aside from parts of eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Seeding also progressed well in Atlantic Canada, where precipitation was below normal during planting.”

Statistics Canada said 26.9 million acres of wheat were planted in 2023, up 6.7% from 2022. The increase was led by spring wheat area, which posted an 8% increase in plantings to 19.5 million acres, followed by durum wheat up 0.5% to 6 million acres. The agency said winter wheat, which is grown mostly in Eastern Canada, increased 20% to 1.4 million acres in 2023.

“The increase in total wheat area may be attributable to favorable prices and strong global demand,” Statistics Canada said.

Area planted to soybeans also increased in 2023, climbing 6.8% to 5.6 million acres, Statistics Canada said. The agency said farmers in Manitoba increased their soybean plantings by nearly 41% in 2023 to 1.6 million acres, a move reflective of record yields in 2022. Meanwhile, plantings in Ontario, where more than half of Canada’s soybeans are grown, slipped 5.4% in 2023 to 2.9 million acres, Statistics Canada said.

Canadian farmers also planted more corn for grain in 2023, up 5.5% from 2022 to 3.8 million acres, and increased acreage planted to barley by 3.9%, to 7.3 million acres, the agency said.

Plantings of oats plummeted nearly 36% to 2.5 million acres, the lowest oat acreage on record.

“Producers may have opted to seed less area with oats because of high national supply that resulted from strong production in 2022,” Statistics Canada said.

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