Canola ahead of wheat in receipts

Friday, May 6, 2011

Hard red spring wheat may be the icon of the Canadian Prairies, but it's not what puts the most money into Western farmers' pockets. Look instead to those fields sprouting yellow blossoms earlier in the year.

Canola was the number one cash crop in Canada last year, worth $5.6 billion to farmers. That's up 10 per cent from 2009. By comparison, all wheat in Canada drew a paltry $3.64 billion, corn brought in $1.44 billion and soybeans $1.2 billion. Surprisingly, Statistics Canada says overall farm cash crop receipts were worth $21.9 billion in 2010, down 6.3 per cent from 2009.

According to the Canola Council of Canada, Saskatchewan was the number one canola growing province with $2.72 billion in sales, up 16 per cent from 2009. Manitoba's canola crop was worth $1.12 billion and Alberta's $1.71 billion.

The Canola Council of Canada aims to produce 15 million tonnes by 2015 – up substantially from 11.9 million tonnes in 2010. BF