December 9, 2004

Rains Reduce Quality of Canada's Wheat Harvest

Canada's 2004 wheat harvest rose 9.8 percent to 25.9 million metric tons, more than previously estimated. This comes as plentiful rains at planting time boosted yields and cold, wet weather at harvest hurt quality.

Production of spring wheat, used for making bread, increased 12 percent to 18.5 million tons on a record yield of 38 bushels an acre, and durum wheat, used for pasta, gained 16 percent to 4.96 million tons, according to Statistics Canada. Canadian farmers gathered 2.45 million tons of winter wheat.

Less than a half of Canada's crop will receive the top two ratings for food-grade milling wheat this year, compared with an average of 73 percent over the last decade. The decline in quality reflects freezing temperatures in August and rain during harvest in September, the Canadian Wheat Board said last month.

"It has been a roller-coaster year for Canadian farmers,'' said StatsCan. "The season started out with favorable conditions and much needed participation, but a series of mid-season frosts, cooler than normal weather and marginal harvest conditions in the west combined to create problems.''

In September, the agency forecast wheat farmers would reap 24.5 million tons. Most of the crop may end up as lower-priced cattle feed because of its reduced quality, StatsCan said.

Canadian farmers harvested 13.2 million tons of barley, a 7 percent increase from 2003 and little changed from StatsCan's September estimate. Canola rose 14 percent to 7.73 million tons, up from StatsCan's last estimate of 7 million.

The grain corn crop, grown mainly in the eastern provinces of Ontario and Quebec, fell 7.8 percent to 8.84 million tons as many growers switched to soybeans because of poor conditions. StatsCan predicted a grain-corn crop of 8.06 million tons in September.

Farmers in Ontario and Quebec had record harvests of soybeans, StatsCan said. Ontario's production rose 43 percent to 2.5 million tons and Quebec's climbed 35 percent to 520,000 tons.

Canada is the world's biggest exporter of canola, and only the US and Australia ship more wheat. Most Canadian grain is grown in the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.