General Increase in Coarse Grain Stocks

OTTAWA - Oct 4/07 - SNS -- Coarse grain harvests are rising across Canada and will result in solid year over year increase in production levels, and more abundant available supplies in western Canada, according to the latest crop production estimates from Statistics Canada.

The production of barley, oats and field peas should all rise in the Prairie provinces this year, the result of strong increases in harvested area. Prairie barley production should jump to above-average levels this year. This would be the result of gains in estimated harvest area to above-average acreage, and an average cut for silage.

Barley production is estimated at 11.1 million metric tons (MT), up 2.2 million MT from 2006 and well above the five-year average of 9.7 million MT. Yields will continue to be slightly above average at 53.8 bushels per acre. Farmers in all three Prairie provinces anticipate gains in production this year. If yields hold, available supplies of barley this season will total 13.41 million MT, up from 12.86 million on hand last season.

Oat production on the Prairies should jump 33.0% to 4.5 million MT, an increase of 1.1 million MT from 2006. This is attributed to an improvement in yield and a 23.8% increase in harvest area. The five-year production average is 2.9 million MT.

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