High prices for fertilizer and chemicals will push up wheat acres and lower canola and corn plantings this year, Farm Credit Canada says in its latest outlook for crop inputs.
Overall acreage for wheat will jump 7.3 per cent as farmers turn to “less-input-intensive crops,” the lender forecasts. It predicts both canola and corn acres will decline 1.3 per cent nationally.
And while the cost of glyphosate is “moderating,” it expects sales of farm chemicals will rise five per cent.
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It says farm chemical sales totalled $3.3-billion last year. FCC also predicts more farmers will make use of soil testing, 4R practices, increasingly turn to new products (such as slow-release fertilizer such as ESN) and spend more on agronomic service.
