Record Special Crop Area in Canada

OTTAWA - Jun 30/15 - SNS -- This spring's massive increase in Canadian lentil seedings lifted land in all pulses and specialty crops to a record 8.755 million acres, according to Statistics Canada's seeded area estimates for 2015.

The first seeded area report is a combination of intended and actual plantings. But, this year, seeding of pulse crops shortly after the survey got underway, with the result the numbers are weighted more heavily toward what was actually sown. More significantly, the survey covered 24,500 farms between May 28 and June 11, which means a significant percentage of working farms were included.

Commenting on the data, Statistics Canada noted, "Seeding conditions were generally favorable this spring, with drier conditions allowing farmers to wrap up seeding a few weeks earlier compared with 2014. However, May frost on parts of the Prairies required some farmers to re-seed."

The increase in pulse and specialty crop area was part of a general increase in the amount of land put to crop this year in western Canada. Land in summerfallow, land without crops, plunged 45% to a record low 2.535 million acres this year. At this level, Canadian farmers are getting close to fully utilizing their land or crop production, with pulses playing an important role in crop rotations on many farms.

Overall, land in lentils is believed to be up 24% at 3.87 million acres, while pea area slipped 2% to 3.705 million acres; dry edible beans dropped 8% to 365,000 acres; canaryseed jumped 20% to 330,000 area; mustard sank 35% to 325,000; and chickpeas dropped 31% to 125,000 acres.

For other crops, Statistics Canada reported a 1.3% increase in wheat area to 24.1 million acres, driven by a 21.1% rise in planted acres of durum wheat to 5.8 million acres, while spring wheat fell by 1.5% to 17.1 million acres.

Canola area is down 2.4% at 19.8 million acres; while soybeans are down 2.5% at 5.4 million acres in 2015, with gains in Manitoba and Saskatchewan offsetting some of the drop in eastern Canada. Manitoba farmers reported a 4.7% increase to 1.3 million acres, while in Saskatchewan, they reported increasing area 11.1% to 300,000 acres.