Canola, wheat big seeding winners

Canadian farmers planted more wheat and canola in 2023, and that took a toll on some of the minor crops, say analysts.

Growers told Statistics Canada in this spring’s seeding intentions survey that they seeded 26.92 million acres of all wheat, the biggest crop since 2001.

They planted 22.08 million acres of canola, a 3.2 percent bump over last year.

MarketsFarm analyst Bruce Burnett thinks farmers opted for the mainstream crops because all crops are profitable these days, but the minor crops are harder to grow and sell.

He was particularly surprised by the lentil estimate of 3.67 million acres, a 15 percent drop from last year.

“That’s going to make the lentil situation pretty tight again here,” he said.

Burnett noted that it is dry in southwestern Saskatchewan, where many of the lentils are grown.