TORONTO – Crop production has fallen dramatically over the past year, according to Statistics Canada data released Friday.
Compared to 2020, wheat production is down 38.5 percent to 21.7 million tons this year across Canada, largely due to extremely hot and dry weather conditions in the Prairies during the growing season.
Saskatchewan saw the biggest drop in wheat production, down 48.1% in the province. This was followed by Alberta, where production fell 42.9%. Wheat production in Manitoba fell 28.9%.
The drought in the Prairies also caused canola production to fall to its lowest level since 2007. Nationally, production fell 35.4% to 12.6 million tons due to poor yields. By province, canola production fell 45.4% in Saskatchewan, 19.9% in Alberta and 28.2% in Manitoba.
Barley and oat yields have also been affected by drought in Western Canada. Barley production fell 35.3% to 6.9 million tons while oat production fell 43.0% to 2.6 million tons.
Soybean production also decreased slightly, down 1.4% nationwide to 6.3 million tons. While production fell 5.0% in Quebec and 17.1% in Manitoba, Ontario soybean production increased by 4.4%.
While Western Canada faces challenging weather phenomena, corn farmers in Ontario and Quebec have seen their yields increase due to favorable growing conditions. Grain corn production increased 3.1% to 14.0 million tons across Canada.
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