Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – In something of a surprise, Statistics Canada lowered its projection for planted canola acres in 2025/26, with other oilseeds reaping some of the benefits. StatCan also adjusted its numbers for Canadian wheat.
The federal agency issued its principal field crop area report on June 27, estimating farmers planted nearly 21.46 million acres of canola. That’s a dip of almost 0.9 per cent from its March estimate, down 2.5 per cent of what was sown in 2024/25, and about 1.2 per cent under the five-year average.
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There was a feeling in the trade that more canola would be planted due to an upswing in canola prices, but StatCan noted concerns about the growing conditions on the Prairies and especially ongoing trade issues are possibly reasons why there’s a dip in canola acres.
Also, StatCan revised its estimate on 2024/25 canola production, raising it from 17.4 million tonnes to now 19.2 million.
Meanwhile, StatCan’s call on flax acres did an about face with the agency now saying more was seeded in 2025/26 rather than less. StatCan placed flax acres just short of 620,000 compared to the 448,000 estimated in March and the 503,000 planted last year.
Mustard as well had a turnaround, up 19.6 per cent from March, but at almost 360,000 acres it will still be well short of 606,000 sown a year ago.
As for all wheat, at 26.93 million acres StatCan said slightly more was planted this year than the 26.65 million previous year. However, the latest call is down two per cent from March.
Spring wheat acres of almost 18.81 million are down 3.2 per cent from earlier but a pinch below the 18.94 million planted last year.
Those for durum are up 2.5 per cent from March at 6.53 million, and 2.6 per cent more from 2024/25.
Winter wheat acres increased to 1.58 million from 1.34 million last year.
1 acre = 0.405 hectares
