There were some minor tweaks, but a Statistics Canada acreage report on Wednesday contained no major changes for Ontario compared to the agency’s initial estimates released in April.
Ontario winter wheat area for harvest this year was pegged at 1.1 million acres in today’s report. That is in line with the StatsCan estimate released in April and remains way up from 930,300 acres in 2022.
For corn, the government said Ontario farmers planted 2.3 million acres this year. That was about steady with April and is now down 0.7% compared to 2022. The news is unlikely to distract from the weather in July, when yields are being determined in the province.
For soybeans, StatsCan said acres will decrease 5.4% this year to 2.9 million acres. That’s the same as the spring estimate and doesn’t matter much to prices, which will continue to be set by futures and the Canadian dollar. Of course, a lot still hinges on the weather as yields won’t be set until August.
For dry beans, StatsCan said producers intend to plant 102,400 acres in 2023. That’s up modestly from April but still down 7.2% from last year.
Barley and oats remain out of favour in Ontario. StatsCan said farmers intend to plant only 60,600 acres of oats this year, up slightly from the April report but down a major 32% compared to 2022. Barley acres were also revised up from April but are still expected to plunge 21% on the year, to 52,500 acres.
Canola and spring wheat are not getting much grower interest either. StatsCan said canola acres will be down 18% from last year, to just 45,100. Ontario spring wheat area is seen down 9% to 80,200. Those decreases are more modest than the ones reported in April, but still constitute a sizable drop from last year.
