More Pulses Planted Than Expected

VANCOUVER - Aug 24/11 - SNS -- Canadian farmers managed to seed a larger percentage of the pulses and specialty crops they intended to grow this year than seeding progress reports from provincial agriculture departments suggested, judging from Statistics Canada's first crop production estimate of the year.

In the June seeded area report, which is viewed as an updated seeding intentions estimate because planting is never complete at the time of the survey, farmers planned to seed 6.295 million acres of pulses and specialty crops. Statistics Canada reckons farmers managed to plant 5.675 million acres of the total.

The decline in specialty crop area was a direct result of wet field conditions, which prevented farmers from planting everything they planned. Land in summerfallow jumped from an expected 6.715 million acres at the end of May to an estimated 11.61 million acres at the beginning of June.

However, Statistics Canada reports farmers have regained their optimism about this year's crop prospects. "In the West, farmers reported that recent hot, sunny weather may temper production losses that had been anticipated earlier because of a damp, late spring with persistent wet conditions in many areas," the federal agency said. "In Ontario and Quebec, hot, dry conditions with random precipitation had farmers concerned about crop yields for both grain corn and soybeans in 2011."

Statistics Canada's conclusions about the status of the crop are based on a survey of 15,200 Canadian farmers between July 25 and August 2. The number of farmers surveyed is up from last year's 14,400. Farmers were asked to report their estimated area, yield and production of grains, oilseeds and special crops.