Pulse weekly outlook: Most Canadian pulse acres to decline

Corrected, May 1 — MarketsFarm — Canadian farmers have been projected to plant fewer acres of pulses, according to Statistics Canada.

“Keeping in mind this is the seeding intentions report based on a survey of growers from the beginning of March. It’s as current as the day it was collected,” said Carl Potts, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

In the agency’s principal field crop acreage report, released last Wednesday, estimated acres for dry white beans, dry coloured beans, chickpeas and lentils were down.

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Fababeans were said to be up, from 78,400 acres Canada-wide in 2018 to 121,500 acres this year. Most of that increase will be seen on the Prairies, with Saskatchewan expected to plant 64,100 acres, a jump of nearly 87 per cent from last year.

Potts said the demand for fababeans has been strong as well as prices.

Canada’s lentil acres were projected to drop by almost 10 per cent this year, at about 3.4 million, with Saskatchewan again accounting for about 90 per cent of Canada’s acres. Statistics Canada estimated that province’s farmers will plant about eight per cent fewer lentils in 2019.

With changes in relative prices, Potts said there will likely be more red lentil acres in Saskatchewan this year and less acres of green lentils.

Chickpea acres were estimated to fall 24.5 per cent in 2019, to about 334,300. Saskatchewan has been positioned to be the Canadian center for chickpeas again at 274,300 acres, but down 25.6 per cent from 2018’s acres.

Despite that decline, Potts said the province still has very strong acres.

The federal agency estimated farmer will produce just over a quarter million acres of dry coloured beans this year. That would be a 5.2 per cent drop from 2018. Despite a decline of 25 per cent, Manitoba farmers are expected to plant the most beans at 78,800 acres.

Dry white beans were estimated to drop 16.8 per cent this year, to 73,900 acres. Ontario farmers were projected to plant 49,700 acres, nearly 10 per cent less than in 2018.

— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

Correction, May 1, 2019: A previous version of this article incorrectly quoted Carl Potts as forecasting more green lentil acres and fewer red lentil acres in Saskatchewan.

Tables: Statistics Canada’s projected pulse area for 2019, in thousands of acres, as of March 31, 2019.

Fababeans

Lentils

Chickpeas

Dry coloured beans

Dry white beans

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