MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada’s latest report on stocks of principal field crops clearly demonstrated how much of an effect last summer’s historic drought in Western Canada had on pulse crops.
According to the report released Tuesday, last December’s total domestic stocks for dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and soybeans all declined from the year earlier.
Those followed the lead of other crops primarily grown in Western Canada, while corn, which is largely grown in Ontario, was the only one of Canada’s principal field crops whose stocks increased compared to December 2020.
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Total stocks for dry peas were 1.63 million tonnes last December, a precipitous drop of 42.6 per cent from 2.84 million in December 2020. On-farm stocks (1.32 million tonnes) and commercial stocks (310,000 tonnes) declined by 46.7 per cent and 13.9 per cent, respectively. Last December’s total was the lowest at that time of year since 2007.
In total, Canada had 1.18 million tonnes of lentils in stock last December, down 36.2 per cent from 1.85 million one year earlier and its lowest total since 2009, the last time stocks fell below one million tonnes. On-farm stocks declined 38.5 per cent to one million tonnes, while commercial stocks declined 13.6 per cent to 146,200 tonnes.
Canadian chickpea stocks were at 292,000 tonnes in December 2021, a 29.3 per cent drop from 413,000 tonnes from the year before. On-farm stocks were down 30.6 per cent to 267,000 tonnes, while commercial stocks were only down 7.1 per cent to 26,000 tonnes. Chickpea stocks were at their lowest December total since 2018.
Data for StatsCan’s report came from its December 2021 field crop survey, conducted on 8,600 Canadian farmers from Dec. 14, 2021 to Jan. 18, 2022.
— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.
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