(Resource News International) — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada expects the area seeded by Canadian farmers to all wheat will be up from the year-ago level, according to an acreage outlook from its market analysis division.
Small increases in canola and barley area were also forecast, while a drop in oats and summerfallow acres were projected.
AAFC said the area seeded in the spring of 2008 will be influenced by expected net returns, current prices, expected delivery opportunities, crop rotation requirements and on-farm stocks.
The area seeded to all wheat in the spring of 2008 was expected to hit 24.216 million acres, which would be up from the 21.866 million seeded in the spring of 2007. Of that seeded area, 6.178 million acres will be planted to durum, which would be up significantly from the 4.816 million acres seeded to durum in 2007.
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Canola area in Canada in the spring of 2008 was seen rising slightly to 14.888 million acres, which would compare with the 14.727 million seeded in 2007, Agriculture Canada said.
Seeded area to barley was seen rising only slightly to 10.922 million acres from 10.865 million in 2007.
Canadian producers were expected to decrease the area seeded to oats to 4.991 million acres from the 5.407 million seeded in 2007, Agriculture Canada said.
Statistics Canada will release its first seeding intentions update for the 2008-09 season on April 21.
AAFC’s 2008-09 seedings estimate. Figures are in million acres.
| —-Seeded area —- | ||
| AAFC | StatsCan | |
| 2008-09 | 2007-08 | |
| Crop | outlook | |
| All wheat | 24.216 | 21.866 |
| Durum | 6.178 | 4.816 |
| Barley | 10.922 | 10.865 |
| Corn | 3.015 | 3.440 |
| Oats | 4.991 | 5.407 |
| Rye | 0.445 | 0.425 |
| Mixed grains | 0.395 | 0.423 |
| Canola | 14.888 | 14.727 |
| Flaxseed | 1.791 | 1.305 |
| Soybeans | 3.015 | 2.916 |
| Dry peas | 3.991 | 3.630 |
| Lentils | 1.470 | 1.334 |
| Mustard seed | 0.568 | 0.435 |
| Sunflower seed | 0.200 | 0.200 |
| Canaryseed | 0.482 | 0.440 |
| Chickpeas | 0.301 | 0.430 |
| Buckwheat | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Summerfallow | 7.144 | 7.710 |
Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
