Quality of western Canadian mustard 2022

Weather

The growing season began with below normal temperatures in April and May over the entire mustard growing region. In Manitoba, extreme cold temperatures were associated with large amounts of snow which left fields unable to drain and dry properly. Moreover, heavy rains in May caused overland flooding in Manitoba and some parts of eastern Saskatchewan. This saturated fields and further delayed the start of seeding by about a month. In contrast, Alberta experienced extreme drought at the end of May and western Saskatchewan experienced abnormally dry to severe drought conditions also at this time (Figure 2). The dry conditions allowed an early start to seeding in southern Alberta, with approximately 18% completed by May 3. In Saskatchewan, however, seeding was just beginning in the first week of May. For both provinces, the seeding of mustard was complete by the end of May.

Across Alberta, the abundant rain in June sustained most of the crop throughout the entire growing season as July had variable precipitation and there was almost no rain in August (Figure 2). In southwestern Saskatchewan, most of the area received very little moisture during the growing season with crops experiencing drought-like conditions. July and August were warmer than normal over the prairies. In Alberta, even though there was a once-in-50 years heat wave with a significant number of days over 30°C in August, approximately 45% of the mustard crops were rated as being in good to excellent condition by the end of August.

In Saskatchewan, the mustard harvest began in the second half of August and finished at the end of September (Figure 4). The pace of harvest differed, however, with geography and weather conditions. In southwestern Saskatchewan, the mustard crop was harvested more than 2 weeks earlier than crops in the southeastern area of the province. There were reports that the mustard harvest extended into October in other parts of the prairies.

More detailed information can be found at:

• Saskatchewan crop reports
• Alberta crop reports
• Walter Dyck’s reports

Information on the temperature and precipitation patterns from the 2022 growing season in western Canada can be obtained from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Figure 2 Drought intensity in Canada on May 31 and August 31, 2022

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Production and grade information

In 2022, the production of mustard seed was 161,781 tonnes, much higher than the 2021 production (49,955 tonnes), the 5-year (2017 to 2021) mean of 115,711 tonnes and the 10-year (2012 to 2021) mean of 158,060 tonnes (Figure 3). The increase this year was due to the significant increase in hectares (ha) seeded with mustard (224,500 ha in 2022 versus 124,700 ha in 2021) (Figure 3) and an increase in the total yield, with 740 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) produced in 2022 compared to 548 kg/ha in 2021. The 2022 yield was 717 kg/ha (426 kg/ha in 2021) in Saskatchewan and 801 kg/ha (458 kg/ha in 2021) in Alberta. These yields are an improvement compared to last year but still lower than the 5-year means (833 kg/ha in Saskatchewan and 758 kg/ha in Alberta) and much lower than the 10-year means (916 kg/ha in Saskatchewan and 912 kg/ha in Alberta). Saskatchewan accounted for 72.6% of western Canada’s total area seeded with mustard and 71.1% of mustard production while most of the remaining seeded area and production was in Alberta (Figure 3).

In 2022, 64.6% of the mustard samples received by the Harvest Sample Program were graded Domestic Mustard Seed No. 1, Canada. This is much higher than what was recorded in 2021 (48.1%) and higher than the 5-year and 10-year means of 61.4% and 62.0%, respectively. The highest percentage of samples graded No. 1 were oriental mustard (79%), followed by brown mustard (70.3%). Samples of yellow mustard had the most damage and only 58.8% of the samples were graded No. 1. For most samples, downgrading was due to the presence of inconspicuous admixture, conspicuous admixture and the presence of other distinctly detrimental seeds. This year, only brown mustard samples showed signs of sprouting.

Figure 3 Seeded area and production of mustard in western Canada from 2000 to 2022^{Footnote 1}

Details

Year	Seeded area (hectare)
	Canada	Manitoba	Saskatchewan	Alberta
2000	212,300	4,000	188,100	20,200
2001	165,800	8,100	133,500	24,200
2002	289,300	12,100	242,800	34,400
2003	339,800	10,100	273,100	56,600
2004	298,600	3,200	242,800	52,600
2005	194,100	NSFootnote 2	161,800	32,300
2006	133,800	NS	108,600	25,200
2007	186,200	NS	151,800	34,400
2008	190,100	NS	149,700	40,400
2009	212,400	NS	163,900	48,500
2010	190,200	NS	149,700	40,500
2011	132,700	NS	107,300	25,400
2012	135,500	NS	97,100	38,400
2013	147,800	NS	109,300	38,500
2014	202,300	NS	147,700	54,600
2015	139,600	NS	103,200	36,400
2016	206,200	NS	151,700	54,500
2017	155,700	NS	117,300	38,400
2018	203,900	2,000	152,000	49,400
2019	161,200	700	118,200	42,200
2020	103,700	NS	69,700	32,400
2021	117,490	1,958	83,228	31,638
2022	224,500	NS	163,100	58,100

Details

Year	Production (Tonnes)
	Canada	Manitoba	Saskatchewan	Alberta
2000	202,200	3,300	185,100	13,800
2001	107,100	5,100	92,100	9,900
2002	154,300	10,000	125,200	19,100
2003	226,100	10,400	176,900	38,800
2004	286,700	2,700	232,800	51,200
2005	183,800	NSFootnote 2	152,700	31,100
2006	108,200	NS	82,600	25,600
2007	124,800	NS	95,300	29,500
2008	161,100	NS	123,900	37,200
2009	208,300	NS	160,600	47,700
2010	182,000	NS	134,300	47,700
2011	130,000	NS	103,200	26,800
2012	118,600	NS	82,700	35,900
2013	154,500	NS	117,300	37,200
2014	198,000	NS	138,600	59,400
2015	123,400	NS	91,500	31,900
2016	235,600	NS	162,300	73,300
2017	121,600	NS	94,500	27,100
2018	173,600	2,200	134,700	36,700
2019	134,600	800	106,200	27,600
2020	100,000	NS	63,000	36,500
2021	60,532	NS	45,824	14,708
2022	161,781	NS	114,981	45,856

Figure 4 Mustard harvest progress in Saskatchewan from 2020 to 2022