None of the minor acreage crops appear to be shining stars ready to capture significant western Canadian acreage in the years ahead. It wasn’t always this way.
When rapeseed was turned into canola many decades ago, few could have guessed how the crop would eventually dominate the Canadian Prairies. Lentils and field peas were small acreage crops back in the 1980s and now they are mainstays, particularly in Saskatchewan. While not covering nearly the same area as canola, lentils often top four million acres with peas at three to four million.
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Unfortunately, further expansion for lentils and peas is threatened by aphanomyces root rot. Unless a solution can be found, these pulse crops could see acreage declines in the years ahead.
Chickpeas are tolerant to aphanomyces and may see some acreage increase over time, but they are limited to the drier regions of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Back in the early 2000s, we hit a million acres of chickpeas. Prices dropped, ascochyta blight couldn’t be controlled and acres plummeted. Acreage has crept upward over the past three years, but only to about 315,000.
Some expected soybeans would take over major acreage and for a couple of years producers far and wide experimented with the crop. Although acreage has fluctuated dramatically, soybeans have become a major crop in Manitoba with about 1.6 million acres seeded last year.
Saskatchewan soybean acreage peaked at 850,000 acres in 2017 and was just 68,000 acres last year, with most of that in the extreme southeast corner of the province. It appears the crop will be mainly confined to Manitoba for the foreseeable future.
Flax has truly become a specialty crop with steadily declining acreage. Canary seed and mustard fluctuate but demand is limited and no major acreage breakthrough seems imminent.
Fall rye with the much higher yielding hybrid varieties looked promising, but acreage has remained below 300,000, most of that in Manitoba.
Faba beans seem to have some promise, but acreage has never topped 100,000. Hemp has received a lot of attention over the years, but 88,000 acres back in 2019 was its peak. Quinoa, coriander, buckwheat and camelina are grown on a few prairie fields, but they are truly minor acreage.
None of the bigger acreage crops are shining stars either, which seems to open the door for other options. With barley, China is again buying most of its needs from Australia and domestic barley has to compete with imported American corn.
Wheat is competing with the millions of tonnes flowing out of Russia and Ukraine. On durum, Canada has lost much of the export market dominance it once enjoyed. Oats might have some upside potential if human food uses continue to increase.
Overall, the wide range of crops offers a great deal of diversity, but the crop with the most growth potential seems to be canola, which is already number one. With the push to renewable diesel and the new crush plants, it’s logical to expect canola to continue making inroads into the drier regions of Western Canada, the only areas where it doesn’t already dominate.
It’s always disconcerting to build an industry based on government requirements, but the push for lifecycle emission reductions is why billions are being spent on crush plants and renewable diesel facilities.
If you had to bet on a crop gaining significant acreage in the years ahead, canola would be a logical choice.
Kevin Hursh is an agricultural journalist, consultant and farmer. He can be reached by e-mail at kevin@hursh.ca.
