Ontario is still the soybean king but times are changing. In 2008, Ontario grew an astounding 2.1 million acres of Canada’s 2.9 million acres. But with each year, more and more soybeans are grown everywhere, especially in Western Canada.
Last year, Ontario grew 3 million acres of soybeans, but Canada grew 7.2 million acres. In 10 years, Ontario went from growing 72 per cent of Canada’s soybeans to 42 per cent and that percentage is likely to fall further, said Toronto-based Parrish and Heimbecker grain merchandiser Steve Kell.
In 2017, Ontario was well ahead of our closest competitor, Manitoba, which grew 2.3 million acres. However, a combined Manitoba and Saskatchewan outperformed Ontario’s growing area last year at 3.1 million acres.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s field crop outlook to 2019 projected soybean acres to hit a record 7.4 million acres by next year, and that’s going to be thanks to Western Canada boosting its acres, Kell said.
However, Western Canada likely isn’t going to be producing the same bean, Kell said. Growers in Saskatoon, for example, won’t be able to compete with Kemptville-acreage in either yield or quality.
Canada is also expected to grow more grain corn, jumping from 3.25 million acres to 3.7 million acres by 2019, largely pushed by more acreage in Western Canada. But Ontario is still king, growing 2.1 million acres of corn in 2017.
