A record 22.4 million acres of canola will be seeded in Canada this year, but wheat will remain number one in terms of area, according to the Statistics Canada seeding intentions report published on Friday.

The StatsCan all-wheat estimate came in at 23.2 million acres, higher than highest pre-report analyst predictions, which ranged from 21.2 to 23 million.

The canola number is right at the high end of trade estimates, which ranged from 20.3 to 22.5 million.

Soybeans are expected to pass barley as the third largest crop in the country, with just under 7 million acres, led by the expansion on the prairies. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are projected to plant almost 3 million acres of beans, according to StatsCan (2.2 million in MB, and 730,000 in SK.)

The numbers are on the high side in general, as Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research notes the total area described by StatsCan is up almost 2 million acres from 2016:

Interesting. Total Cdn seeded area (incl summerfallow) up 1.9 mln acres. #wherediditcomefrom — Chuck_Penner (@LeftFieldCR) April 21, 2017

Corn acreage is projected to rise slightly, to 3.8 million acres nationally, with 2.2 million in Ontario.

Lentil acreage is estimated at 4.4 million, down from 5.9 million in 2016. Pea acreage is expected to see a smaller decline, from 4.2 million last year to just under 4 million in 2017.

The report is based on a survey of around 11,600 farmers conducted from March 16 to March 31.

StatsCan’s 2017 acreage estimates:

More to come.

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