Crop tour finds wheat yield above average; canola slightly below

Canada’s spring wheat yields will be slightly above average while canola yields will be slightly below normal, according to an early-August crop tour conducted by Argus Media.

The company is forecasting a spring wheat yield of 53.3 bushels per acre, eclipsing the Olympic five-year average of 52.4 bu. per acre.

The canola forecast is 41 bu. per acre, which is slightly below the five-year average of 41.6 bu. That average does not include the drought-ravaged 2021 season.

Two cars were used for the tour. One covered a winding route between Winnipeg and Saskatoon, while the other travelled in a large circle between Saskatoon and Calgary.

Each car covered more than 2,000 kilometres of prairie farmland in five days, representing an estimated 80 percent of the total prairie growing region.

Yield estimates were based on a mix of conversations with farmers and random plot counts.

Maxence Devillers, a grain analyst with Argus Media, said spring wheat yields were above average through most of Alberta but below average in a large portion of western Saskatchewan.

Argus is forecasting 26 million tonnes of spring wheat production and 28.4 million tonnes of spring and winter wheat production.

That would be the third largest non-durum wheat crop in history behind 2013 and 2020.

Argus partnered with LeftField Commodity Research on the tour.