Hopes that reduced canaryseed acreage would boost the crop’s price have been thrown into doubt by the Statistics Canada June 29 seeding estimate report.
Farmers will grow fewer acres of canaryseed this summer, but not nearly so few as was expected.
The report finds that canaryseed acreage has fallen only 10 percent, from 400,000 acres to 360,000. The March seeding intentions report anticipated acreage would drop by 52 percent. That led to a price jump that analysts linked to buyers worrying about supply.
However, farmers with canaryseed in the bin may benefit from poor growing conditions in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where drought has hurt crop development so far.
Read Also
One Beer Market Updates Day 3 – Lentils and beef
Day 3 of the One Beer Market Update at Ag in Motion 2025.
According to Statistics Canada, prairie farmers were pessimistic about most of the 2001 crop.
“Both extremely wet and extremely dry soil conditions in different regions of the prairie provinces were still being reported during the June survey period, leaving some farmers ambivalent about whether there would be a crop to harvest from affected land,” said the report.
Canaryseed acreage was expected to be particularly affected by spring drought conditions. Canaryseed is a small seed that is planted shallow and needs good moisture to germinate.
In the March seeding intentions report, the statistics agency reported that producers planned huge cuts in canaryseed acreage and substantial cuts in canola acreage, mainly due to dryness.
Many farmers said they planned more summerfallow.
Those plans, however, appear to have changed.
“Most of the undecided acreage and large increases in summerfallow foreseen by farmers in the March intentions survey appear to have been eventually planted,” said the June report.
According to the Stat Publishing newsletter, www.statpub.com, birdseed markets knocked down prices of crops like canaryseed on the news from Statistics Canada and on the release of a United States Department of Agriculture report that predicts a substantial increase in millet acres. That news means birdseed buyers will not face a major shortage this year.
However, buyers are worried about the dryness now afflicting the 2001 crop, so they are still wary about supply.
“If the dryness persists and timely rains are not received, lower yields will offset much of the increase in acreage,” said Stat Publishing.
