CANADA- According to Statistics Canada, Canadian wheat acreage could reach 27 million acres in 2023, up 6.2% year-over-year and the highest in two decades, owing to strong demand and favorable prices. 

This data comes from the 2022 Field Crop Survey -December, which collects information on seeding intentions, conducted from Dec. 12, 2022, to Jan. 14, 2023, and including about 9,500 respondents reporting their planting intentions for grains, oilseeds, and specialty crops. 

The report found that Canadian farmers expect to plant more wheat, canola, corn for grain, barley, and soybeans in 2023. 

Conversely, the area dedicated to oats could drop along with pulse and specialty crops.

Of the anticipated 27 million acres of wheat, spring wheat area could jump 7.5% to 19.4 million acres year-over-year, while durum wheat area could increase marginally, by 0.9%, to 6.1 million acres. 

On the other hand, the winter wheat area is anticipated to grow 12.7% to 1.5 million acres. 

Regionally, farmers in the top wheat-producing province of Saskatchewan are likely to seed 14.2 million acres, 7.3% more wheat than last year.  

Canola area is expected to climb 0.9% to 21.6 million acres in 2023, with producers anticipating canola-seeded area to increase by 3.7% to 11.8 million acres in Saskatchewan-  the province that produces the most canola. 

For soybeans, in Ontario, the province that produces the most soybeans, farmers are likely to plant 2.9 million acres, down 5.4% from 2022.

Corn for grain, on the other hand, is projected at 3.7 million acres, up 2.8% from last year.

Subsequent surveys during the year will provide estimates of actual seeded acreages, to be released on Dec. 4, 2023, and will be subject to revision for two years.

US red winter wheat production estimates up 20%

Meanwhile, in the US- another significant wheat producer, flour millers, and wheat merchandisers at the 2023 spring conference of the North American Millers’ Association (NAMA), forecast soft red winter wheat production in the United States in 2023 at 404.923 million bushels, up 20% from 336.626 million bushels in 2022. 

According to the forecast, this production would be the largest dating back to the 2014 crop year, when 454.531 million bushels were harvested. 

The panelists also forecast the soft white winter wheat crop, produced largely in the Pacific Northwest, at 223.906 million bushels, down 1%, from 225.259 million bushels in 2022. 

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