Canadian farmers were making progress in planting record areas of corn and soybeans as well as larger areas of spring wheat, durum and oats than in 2012, Statistics Canada said.
Some acreage had not been planted as of June 10 because of excess moisture, but only canola and barley acreage was down from 2012.
Total wheat area across Canada increased 9% from 2012 to 25.9 million acres in 2013. Most of the advance was in spring wheat acreage, up nearly 13% from a year ago to 19.1 million acres. Durum wheat increased 4% to 4.9 million acres, Statistics Canada said.
In top-producing Saskatchewan, spring wheat acreage increased 14% for 9.7 million acres and durum wheat was up 4% to 4.3 million acres.
Total Canadian oats acreage increased 18% to 3.4 million acres in 2013, Statistics Canada said.
Across Canada, corn acreage was a record 3.6 million acres, up almost 3% from 2012. The largest percentage increase came in Manitoba, where corn for grain jumped to 365,000 acres, up 22% from 2012. Quebec farmers planted one million acres of corn, up 7% from 2012, while corn acres in Ontario declined 2% from 2012 to 2.2 million acres.
Soybean acres rose 11% from 2012 to a record 4.6 million acres in 2013, Statistics Canada said. The bulk of the increase was in Manitoba, where farmers seeded a record 1.1 million acres to soybeans, a 36% jump from 2012.
Plantings of canola were 19.7 million acres, down 8% from 2012 and the first decline in canola acreage since 2006, Statistics Canada said. Canola acreage fell 8% in Saskatchewan, 7% in Alberta and 12% in Manitoba compared to 2012.
Barley plantings were down 3% to 7.2 million acres compared to 2012, Statistics Canada said.
