Official numbers won’t be available for a few weeks, but industry and government representatives say soybeans will not top a million acres in Manitoba.
Ray Wytinck, general manager of NorthStar Genetics, one of the primary soybean distributors in Manitoba, said sales at most NorthStar dealers increased from last year.
However, sales didn’t expand significantly.
“I know we grew a bit (in seed sales) from last year,” he said.
“So, I’d say we’d be very close to a million acres. Maybe a tad short.”
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Dennis Lange, a Manitoba Agriculture crop production adviser in Altona, said industry reports suggest that soybeans will be in the 900,000 to 950,000 acre range, while Kristen Podolsky, a production specialist with the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association, estimated that soybeans will be 900,000 to one million acres.
Industry representatives and crop analysts were predicting earlier this year that soybeans would top 1.2 million acres in Manitoba, shattering the record of 850,000 seeded acres set in 2012.
Soybean acres have increased dramatically in some parts of the province, such as the northern Interlake.
Dean Stoyanowski, a farm production adviser with Manitoba Agriculture in Arborg, said growers have likely planted more than 40,000 acres in the Fisher Branch-Arborg area.
“We’ve probably doubled or more our acres from last year. I think we were at 15,000 or 20,000 last year.”
Growers also planted significantly more soybeans in the Dauphin–Ste. Rose du Lac region. In spite of those gains, acres may not exceed one million because of excess moisture along the U.S. border.
“Just because of the southern belt, there’s a strip there of high moisture,” Wytinck said. “Boissevain–Miami, that whole area got a lot of rain.”
Other factors included extreme cold in April and the late start to spring, Podolsky said.
“Some guys maybe got a little nervous and backed off on the acres … and decided to go with other crops.”
Steve Friesen, seed division account manager with Delmar Commodities, which distributes Legend Seeds, said seed companies would soon have a more accurate picture of soybean sales in Manitoba.
“All of us, distributors, are in the position of seeing how much seed is going to be returned. That will give us a far better idea of where we will stand,” he said. “(But) I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re between the 900,000 and one million mark.”
Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp., the provincial insurer, won’t know officially how many acres of soybeans are insured until mid-July. Until then, any estimates are approximations, said Doug Wilcox, the corporation’s research and program development manager.
“Prior to that we’re just extrapolating and guessing. And we could be wildly off.”
Cold soil temperatures delayed soybean emergence in a few areas, including Beausejour. Growers will need to conduct plant counts to get a better sense of the potential impact on yield.
