Canada Markets

The first prairie crop report of the season was released in Alberta on May 5, with estimates as of the May 2 cut-off.

The government has estimated 2.5% of major crops (spring wheat, barley, oats, canola and dry peas) were planted as of May 2, which compares to the five-year average for this period of 11% and the 10-year average of 11.6%. This is the slowest start since May 2018, or five years, when only 0.4% of the crop was estimated as seeded as of May 1.

While not shown on the attached chart, progress ranges from the Southern Region, where the 6.6% of major crops planted is 25.3 percentage points behind the five-year average pace for the region, to the Northwest Region, where the 1.1% of major crops seeded as of May 2 is 0.3 percentage points ahead of the average pace for the region for this week.

A look back to 2018 reports shows that planting progress for the province and three of the five provincial regions were ahead of their respective 5-year average as of May 29. The exception was the Southern Region and the Central Region, which were only slightly behind their five-year average pace. The province indicated that "for the most part, crops have caught up to normal."

Cliff Jamieson can be reached at cliff.jamieson@dtn.com

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