Canadian farmers expect to sow more canola, barley, soybeans, and corn for grains and legumes in 2026. Besides less wheat and peas, Canadians are also sowing less oats and lentils compared to last year.
This is evident from figures published by Statistics Canada. Barley acreage, in particular, is expected to increase. Preliminary figures indicate that barley acreage will grow by 5% this year to 2,6 million hectares. This represents an increase of 123.400 hectares.
Most hectares remain dedicated to wheat. Despite a 1,1% decrease, Canadians still sow 10,8 million hectares of wheat. This area consists of just over 70% spring wheat. Slightly less than a quarter is sown with durum wheat. The share of winter wheat in Canada remains limited to a mere 6%.
After wheat, rapeseed is the largest crop. Rapeseed cultivation is increasing by 1% to almost 8,84 million hectares. This means that rapeseed cultivation is almost back to the level it was in 2023 and 2024. In those years, 8,9 million hectares of rapeseed were cultivated.
Soybean cultivation in Canada is showing slight growth again. This year, the area will increase by about 1,9%, bringing the total to 2,38 million hectares. Canada is also a major global producer of lentils. The area under this legume will decrease by 5,5% to 1,67 million hectares. This makes lentils a larger crop than grain corn, peas, and oats in Canada.
Peas are the biggest yielders this year, shrinking by 12,3% to 1,2 million hectares. Oats are shrinking by 3,1% to 1,17 million hectares. Grain maize is increasing by 1,7% to 1,56 million hectares.