Statistics Canada released its Principle Field Crop Areas report Friday morning.

Market Analyst Neil Townsend talked about the highlights.

"The big headline number is going to be the canola number which was 21.4 million acres from Stats Canada," he said. "I think the industry was up around 24 million, our estimate was 24.3 million, so that's a pretty significant gap there. Is the market going to believe it, I don't really think so. The pulses probably came in higher than people expected given all of the headwinds that pulse crops face right now given the Indian situation."

Canadian farmers expect to plant fewer acres of soybeans and canola in 2018, crops that were both at record high levels in 2017. Seeding intentions of dry peas and lentils are also expected to decline, potentially due to weaker prices and to exports falling sharply.

Farmers anticipate areas of wheat, barley and corn to rise in 2018.

The first iteration of the 2018 Field Crop Survey (March), which collects information on crop planting intentions, was conducted from March 2 to March 29, 2018, and included about 11,600 farmers. 

Farmers were asked to report their planting intentions for grain, oilseeds and special crops.

Subsequent surveys during the year will provide estimates of actually seeded acreages. Data on final acreages for 2018 will be released on December 6, 2018.

Townsend said that the report might affect the markets.

"I think that as time goes on, if we get weather conditions or climate conditions or whatever happens, in the 18, 19 growing seasons that kind of could indicate there might be problems with a particular crop, or there might be a benefit for a particular crop," he said. "People might say, well we are still trying to wonder how many acres got in and that could potentially have some influence in the market, but in a broader sense, directly I don't see these numbers as really, really moving the market.'

Wheat

Nationally, farmers reported intending to seed 25.3 million acres of all varieties of wheat in 2018, up 12.8% over 2017. Seeding intentions for spring wheat indicate a 15.4% gain over 2017, to 18.2 million acres, while durum wheat acreage is expected to increase 11.0% to 5.8 million acres.

Canola

Canadian farmers are expecting to seed 21.4 million acres of canola in 2018, down 7.0% from 2017.

Soybeans

At the national level, farmers intend to seed 6.5 million acres of soybeans in 2018, down 11.4% from the record high in 2017. This is the result of declines expected in most provinces.

Corn for grain

At the national level, corn for grain acreage is anticipated to rise 5.1% from 2017 to 3.8 million acres.

Lentils and peas

Canadian farmers expect total lentil acreage to decline 8.1% from 2017 to 4.1 million acres in 2018.