Spring Wheat Leads All Wheat Area Higher

Canadian farmers put more spring wheat into the ground than originally planned this spring, but less durum. 

Tuesday’s Statistics Canada acreage report pegged nationwide spring wheat plantings for 2022 at 18.21 million acres. That is up 10.5% from a year earlier and tops the 17.6-million acre estimate contained in StatsCan’s April planting intentions report.

On the other hand, durum planted area was reported at 6 million acres, down about 200,000 from intentions but still up 8.6% from a year ago. Estimated winter wheat area for harvest in 2022 was unchanged from the April report at 1.17 million acres, but 12.7% below the previous year. 

All told, Canadian farmers reported planting 25.39 million acres of wheat nationwide in 2022, up 8.7% from 2021 and the highest in a decade if accurate. Pre-report trade estimates for all wheat area ranged from 23.7 million to 25.4 million acres. 

In Saskatchewan, wheat area increased 10.4% to 13.24 million acres as spring wheat area rose 11.7% to 8.3 million acres and durum wheat area rose 7.6% to 4.86 million acres. Spring wheat area in the province is up from original intentions of 8 million acres, but durum is down from intentions of 5.2 million. 

Alberta producers reported planting 7.6 million acres of wheat this year, up 9.6% from the previous year. The year-over-year increase was led by spring wheat area, which increased 9.3% to 6.4 million acres – up about 100,000 from intentions. Durum wheat area in the province was pegged at 1.08 million acres, up 9.9% from last year and slightly above intentions of 957,500. 

Farmers in Manitoba reported total wheat seeded area at 3.2 million acres, up 100,000 from intentions and 12.1% above last year.