Farmers across Canada reported that they are planting more wheat than they have in a decade, but canola planting is down, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
The report said farmers planted 25.4 million acres of wheat in 2022, which is up 8.7 per cent from 2021.
Spring wheat’s footprint rose 10.5 per cent to 18.2 million acres, and durum wheat area rose 8.6 per cent to 6 million acres.
“The increase in total wheat area may be attributable to favourable prices and strong global demand,” the StatCan report stated.
Wheat area is up in Saskatchewan by 10.4 per cent, to 13.2 million acres, as spring wheat area rose 11.7 per cent to 8.3 million acres.
Durum wheat area also rose 7.6 per cent to 4.9 million acres in Saskatchewan.
Meanwhile, Canadian farmers reported planting 21.4 million acres of canola this year, which is down 4.7 per cent from 2021.
“Despite high prices, area may have decreased as farmers shifted to alternate crops such as cereals.”
Saskatchewan farmers reported planting 11.4 million acres of canola, which is down six per cent from 2021.
Growers in southern Alberta and western Saskatchewan dealt with precipitation at the beginning of the season that was well below normal, exacerbating already dry conditions from 2021.
These conditions allowed growers the chance to seed at a near-normal pace.