Statistics Canada is expecting less wheat, durum, winter wheat, oats, lentils and dry peas to be planted in 2026, but more canola, soybeans, barley, and corn for grain to be seeded.
The expectation is based off of StatCan's Field Crop Survey conducted December 12, 2025 to January 16, 2026, involving about 8,200 farmers who were asked to report their seeding intentions for grains, oilseeds, and specialty crops.
Nationally, Statistics Canada expects seeded wheat acres to be down 1.1% to 26.7 million acres and that includes spring wheat (18.8 million acres, down 0.1%), durum (6.4 million acres, down 2.4%), and winter wheat (1.6 million acres, down 6.7%).
If realized, "national wheat area would remain well above the five-year average, despite a decrease from 2025, which would likely be attributable to continued strong global demand." the agency said.
Producers across Canada expect to plant about 21.8 million acres of canola this year, up by 1%, in line with the five year average, as Stats Canada says the higher acreage may be attributed to "strong domestic demand as processing capacity continues to expand."
Soybean acreage is expected to go up to 5.9 million acres, an increase of 1.9% from last year.
Five per cent more barley is expected at 6.4 million acres, while oats is expected to be down 3.1% to 2.9 million acres "possibly because of high oat stocks resulting from high production in 2025." StatCan said.
Farmers expect to plant more corn for grain by 1.7% to 3.8 million acres.
Stats Canada says lentil acreage is anticipated to decrease by 5.5% to 4.1 million acres "possibly because of high stocks resulting from a large crop production in 2025."
They also say dry peas are expected to be reduced by 12.3% to 3.1 million acres, "likely the result of lower returns relative to other crops because of tariffs in place from importing countries."
Numbers in Saskatchewan
StatCan says Saskatchewan farmers expect to seed "13.9 million acres of wheat in 2026, down 1.0% from the previous year." They anticipate durum acres to remain at 5.1 million acres and spring wheat acreage to fall slightly to 8.7 million acres.
A bit more canola could be planted in Saskatchewan at 12.2 million acres, up 0.5%.
Producers plan to seed 7.9% more barley at 2.4 million acres.
About 3.6 million acres of lentils is expected to be put in the ground in the province, down 4.3% from the previous year and just 1.5 million acres of dry peas is expected to be seeded, down 16.6%.
