June 24, 2008

   

Grain planting in Western Canada on track, wheat acreage down

Grain and oilseed planting in western Canada for the 2008-09 growing season have generally gone well, people in the industry said ahead of the updated Statistics Canada seeded-area report scheduled for release Tuesday (June 24, 2008).

 

"Most of my customers planted 99 percent of what they had originally intended to," a Winnipeg trader said. "Any shifts that are reported will likely be small to moderate at the most."

 

However, a slight lowering of the all-wheat seeded-acreage number is expected with a decline from 500,000 to 750,000 acres.

 

Wheat prices were low when seeding decisions were being made, which would have caused minor shifts into other crops at wheat's expense, people in the industry said.

 

Poor winter wheat crops were also given as a reason for an expected downward shift in seeded area.

 

Some of the re-seeded winter wheat that did not emerge well over winter would have been taken out, an agricultural analyst said.

 

People in the industry also said they think an additional 100,000 to 200,000 acres of seeded-oat area is likely, with most of the increase expected in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

 

Growers in these areas expanded their oat acreage at the expense of wheat and rapeseed.

 

In Alberta, higher prices are believed to have led to more barley having been planted, with the extra land coming from intended rapeseed acreage, the people said.

 

Fewer acreage are likely to be left fallow as farmers decide on what to plant.

  

For pulse crops, peas and lentil are expected to have gained 100,000 to 200,000 acres from what was originally estimated in the earlier seeded-area report.