Interesting crop stats

The November estimate of field crop production from Statistics Canada was released on Friday. Here are some of the interesting numbers. The average canola yield in Saskatchewan this year is pegged at 34.8 bushels an acre. The yield difference seems to keep widening between canola and the other two main oilseeds – flax and mustard. The average flax yield was only 23.1 bushels an acre while mustard was 17.7. With the extremely late harvest, it isn’t surprising that winter wheat acreage is down, but the numbers are dramatic. Saskatchewan had 450,000 acres of winter wheat in the fall of 2008. This fall, there’s only 200,000 acres. Across Western Canada, winter wheat acreage has dropped from 1.2 million down to 650,000. The Statistics Canada data breaks down yields by crop subgroups. The yields for large green and red lentils were virtually identical at 1,390 and 1,381 pounds per acre respectively. Small green lentils were quite a bit higher at 1,510. There was a big yield difference between hairless and regular canaryseed. Hairless canaryseed is listed at 932 pounds per acre, with regular at 1,278. Little wonder that most producers still grow the regular canaryseed even though it’s very itchy to deal with. You can find the full production estimate report on the Statistics Canada website. I’m Kevin Hursh.