National Corn, Soybean Area Fails to Meet Intentions

Strong prices notwithstanding, Canadian producers actually seeded fewer corn and soybean acres this year than originally planned.

According to a Statistics Canada acreage report released Tuesday, nationwide producers planted 3.47 million acres of corn this year, down from April intentions of 3.62 million and 2.5% below a year earlier. Soybean acres also fell slightly from intentions, declining to 5.32 million from 5.34 million in April, although that remains up almost 5% from the 2020 seeded national area of 5.07 million.

In the top production province of Ontario, corn planted area came in at 2.14 million acres, slightly below intentions of 2.22 million and 2.19 million a year ago. However, soybean area in the province crept a bit higher, inching up to 2.93 million acres from 2.9 million in April and 3% above the 2020 seeded area of 2.85 million acres.

Manitoba producers reported seeding 367,100 acres of corn this year, down from intentions of 398,400 and now below the 372,300 acres seeded a year earlier. As in Ontario, Manitoba soybean planted area moved slightly higher though, increasing to 1.31 million acres from intentions of 1.3 million and 14.5% above last year.

At 885,800 acres, Quebec corn seeded area fell from intentions of 901,300 and the previous year’s 890,800. But soybean area in the province increased to 925,300 acres from intentions of 923,000 and 885,500 a year earlier.

Alberta and Saskatchewan corn area was reported at 17,300 and 13,600 acres, respectively, down sharply from 40,800 and 22,500 acres in 2020. (StatsCan did not report Alberta and Saskatchewan corn intentions in its April report).

For soybeans, Saskatchewan producers reported 85,000 seeded acres, down about one-third from 2020. No soybean acres were estimated for Alberta, compared to 2,500 last year.