SASKATOON – Saskatchewan farmers intend to plant less wheat and canola in the province this year compared to 2015 according to a Statistics Canada report released Thursday. Canola farmers in the province intend to seed 2.6 per cent less acres than they did in 2015, according to the report.
The decrease is “a fairly small number,” according to Janice Tranberg, the executive director of Sask Canola.
“We normally expect there’s going to be some variance on year-to-year,” said Tranberg in an interview at the group’s Saskatoon office.
“Canola farmers or farmers in general, they make their decisions yearly based on what are the prices, what are the soil conditions, the weather conditions, what [do] they predict, where does it fit in their rotation.”
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Tranberg said she didn’t expect the potential decrease to turn into a trend and pointed to predictions she’s seen that show canola seeding acreage will remain flat in the province or even increase. The Statistics Canada report states that farmers intend to sow 10.4 million acres.
“We don’t predict a large decrease,” said Tranberg.
“Canola has a really good return on investment; it’s always been one that farmers have looked too for a fairly good investment.”
The report also states that farmers intend to seed 3.5 per cent less acres of wheat than they did in 2015. Spring wheat seeding intentions are down 9.6 per cent, however durum wheat acreage is expected to increase by 5.5 per cent. If the report holds, the total area seeded will be 12.6 million acres.
Nationally, the report found wheat farmers plan to seed 1.1 per cent less acres this year, while canola could slow by 3.7 per cent in 2016.