Prairie farmers will plant more spring wheat this year, according to a telephone survey done by Statistics Canada at the end of March.
Manitoba farmers plan to grow 17 percent more acres, while Alberta farmers intend to increase wheat acres by 10 percent, and Saskatchewan farmers by eight percent.
Jerry Klassen, of Growers’ Marketing Services, said spring wheat values should increase by next spring, even though the most recent pool return outlook from the Canadian Wheat Board showed prices dropping.
United States farmers are turning away from spring wheat, and will likely have lower protein levels in their winter wheat crop, Klassen noted.
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Glenn Lennox, an analyst with Agriculture Canada, thinks wheat returns for this summer’s crop will be higher than returns expected for the 1998 crop.
“I personally think the PRO has a lot of upside to it,” said Lennox.
He expects the PRO will rise by fall, after initial payments are set at the end of July.
Meanwhile, the survey showed Manitoba growers plan to halve their durum acreage, while Alberta growers will cut 38 percent and Saskatchewan growers will cut 25 percent.
“I hope that number is correct,” said Klassen, explaining total durum acres appear to be much less than some analysts predicted.
Even if Canadian farmers didn’t plant any durum, there would still be ample world supplies of the crop, said Klassen.
The drop in Canadian durum acres won’t likely make a difference in poor world prices, he said.
