Ag Briefs: Canola down, wheat going up as Prairie farmers prepare for planting season

By Medicine Hat News on March 19, 2025.

Canadian farmers plan to plant more wheat and dry peas this spring rather than canola, barley and lentils, Statistics Canada reported March 12 in its principal field crop estimates.

But that varies from province to province in the West.

Across Canada, wheat acres are expected to total 27.5 million, a 2.6 per cent increase from 2024, driven largely by spring and winter varieties, while total durum acreage could remain steady.

That comprises 14.2 million acres in Saskatchewan, largely unchanged from 2024, and 8.4 million in Alberta with additions in spring wheat and durum.

Anticipated canola area could fall 1.7 per cent to 21.6 million acres in total, back to the five-year average. That’s despite an expected small increase in Saskatchewan, while Alberta producers are passing on the crop this year due to “lower profitability for canola relative to other crops, in addition to other factors, including soil moisture in Western Canada,” according to Stats Can.

In Alberta, 6.1 million acres for canola is down 4.3 per cent, while Saskatchewan could see 12.2 million acres, or a 1.2 per cent increase.

The two neighbours both see a similar trend for barley, while lentils are more popular in Alberta and less so in Saskatchewan, which features 90 per cent of Canada’s lentil production.

Across Canada, land for dry peas is anticipated to grow by 9.5 per cent.

Union eyes ranch hands

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has asked the Alberta labour board to rule on whether “ranch hands” at a University of Calgary veterinary training and research facility should be union members.

AUPE represents non-academic employees at the post-secondary educational facility, and in an application to the ALRB on March 17 requests a determination on whether “Ranch Hand (Research) and Livestock Coordinator” should be part of its bargaining unit.

The W.A. Ranch, operated by the U of C near Cochrane, comprises 19,000 acres and hosts a 900-head Angus-based cow herd and 60 bulls.