Canada’s pedigreed seed acreage fell to its lowest level in decades last year.
Dale Adolphe, executive director of the Canadian Seed Growers Association, said 1.1 million acres of pedigreed seed were inspected in 2010. That was more than 38,000 acres less than 2009 and Canada’s lowest acreage in at least 17 years.
Wheat acreage saw the biggest drop, falling 30,000 acres from 2009.
Inspections of pedigreed barley were down more than 27,000 acres.
Wheat is still the most widely grown crop among pedigreed seed producers, accounting for nearly 340,000 acres in 2010.
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However, Adolphe said the association grew slightly in 2010 despite the reduced acreage. Membership numbers surpassed 3,700, up from 3,500 in 2009.
Membership peaked at about 4,500 in 2004.
Adolphe also said the reduction in 2010 acreage was not as bad as the industry had anticipated.
“We reduced our acreage expectation by about 100,000 acres (last year) because of the terrible spring that we had in Western Canada,” Adolphe told seed growers recently.
“The good news is that (the actual) … decline was only about 38,000 acres so we are better than what we had budgeted.”
He said pedigreed seed acreage was down significantly in Saskatchewan, dropping from nearly 336,000 acres in 2009 to 273,000 last year.
Difficult growing conditions, accentuated by excess moisture, poor crop establishment and heavy disease pressure, contributed to the decline.
Saskatchewan membership in the CSGA dropped to 579 growers in 2010, the province’s lowest number in at least a decade.
Adolphe said it was the only province to see a reduction in 2010.
