2022 Canadian Wheat Harvest Third Largest on Record

Dec 02, 2022

Better growing conditions in Western Canada helped to push national wheat production for the 2022 growing season to the third largest on record, Statistics Canada’s production of principal field crops for November 2022, said. Canadian farmers reported producing more wheat, canola, barley, corn for grain, soybeans, and oats in 2022 compared with 2021.

The report noted that through 2022, better growing conditions relative to 2021 across much of western Canada contributed to improved yields.

“Despite the general improvement over 2021, dry soil conditions persisted in many parts of the Prairies, affecting growing conditions in those regions,” the release said.

National wheat production rose by 51.7 per cent to 33.8 million tonnes in 2022 — the highest production since 2020 and third highest on record. Yields were 38.2 per cent higher at 49.9 bushels per acre, while harvested area was up 9.7 per cent to 24.9 million acres — both were up from a year earlier.

In Alberta, wheat production climbed by 76.7 per cent to 11.3 million tonnes, the report said. Yields increased by 59.8 per cent to 55.6 bushels per acre, while harvested area rose by 10.6 per cent.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.