Quality of Canadian Soybean, oilseed-type 2019

2. Weather and production review

Weather review

Soybeans are typically seeded in early May in eastern Canada and from the last of week of May to the first week of June in western Canada. This year Ontario and Quebec experienced persistent rainfall in spring, which resulted in seeding being pushed back into June and even into July. This, however, was followed by a warm summer with adequate rains in August, a warm September and a delayed frost in the fall. This was key in developing a good crop considering the late seeding date.

Figure 2: Historic soybean production data in Canada, 2000 to 2019

Soybean Production

Map:Figure 2: Historic soybean production data in Canada, 2000 to 2019

  • Details
    Historic soybean production data in Canada, 2000 to 2019
    Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
    Canada 2,703,000 1,635,200 2,335,700 2,273,300 3,043,900 3,155,600 3,465,500 2,686,200 3,335,900 3,581,600 4,444,600 4,466,500 5,086,400 5,358,900 6,048,600 6,459,100 6,552,100 7,716,600 7,416,600 6,045,100
    Prince Edward Island 4,700 4,400 6,700 5,400 6,500 9,300 11,100 11,100 17,100 36,200 40,700 45,400 51,400 61,500 60,100 47,200 49,000 49,000 43,200 36,400
    Nova Scotia                     6,600 9,300 10,600 12,000 14,800 12,800 12,800 15,500 18,500 10,700
    New Brunswick                     9,100 8,400 9,300 13,200 13,600 12,200 14,700 16,200 14,900 9,500
    Quebec 385,000 315,000 315,000 390,000 520,000 505,000 535,000 472,000 600,000 530,000 823,000 800,000 843,000 847,000 898,000 1,088,100 1,129,400 1,115,000 1,164,000 1,045,900
    Ontario 2,313,300 1,279,100 1,905,100 1,728,200 2,476,600 2,585,500 2,667,100 2,000,300 2,476,600 2,694,300 3,129,800 3,189,700 3,401,900 3,238,600 3,791,100 3,728,500 3,374,700 3,796,600 4,200,500 3,708,200
    Manitoba   36,700 108,900 149,700 40,800 55,800 252,300 202,800 242,200 321,100 435,400 413,700 770,200 1,068,200 1,107,700 1,390,700 1,769,000 2,245,300 1,731,600 1,122,300
    Saskatchewan                           118,400 163,300 179,600 202,500 479,000 231,800 107,200
    Alberta                                     11,600 4,900

In Manitoba, relatively good weather in spring allowed nearly all the crop to be seeded by the end of May. Topsoil moisture levels were a concern going into June and crop emergence was inconsistent. Towards the end of June, however, moisture conditions improved considerably along with the crop conditions. The soybean crop continued to develop well into July and August with most reports claiming the crop was in fair condition. While some regions received adequate moisture in August not every region received enough to reach their yield potential. Harvest started by the last week in September, but progress was slow and delayed by rain, snow and cool weather. By the middle of November 85% of the crop was harvested.

Source:

Production and grade information

Seeded area and production data for 2019 and 2018 are in Table 2. In 2019, seeded soybean areas decreased in Canada when compared to 2018 with the decrease occurring primarily in western Canada where the planted area dropped 30%. The seeded areas in central Canada grew moderately by approximately 2% but overall the seeded areas decreased in Canada by close to 10%.

Up until two years ago, Canada’s soybean production had been increasing steadily since 2007 (Figure 2) as production had been increasing in Ontario and expanding to Manitoba first and then Saskatchewan and Alberta. Production in the west has decreased in the last two years due mainly due to poor weather conditions for soybean production.

Production in Canada dropped in 2019 by around 18% compared to 2018, as there was a substantial yield decrease in nearly every region in the country. In 2019, about 61.3% of the Canadian soybean were produced in Ontario (57.8% in 2018), 18.6% on Manitoba and 17.3% in Québec. In Manitoba less than favourable growing and harvest conditions pushed the 2019 soybean yields to a low of 1964 kg/h while yields in Ontario averaged 2,966 kg/ha.

Table 2. Seeded area and production for eastern and western Canadian soybeanFootnote 1
Province Seeded area Production 5-year average production
2014 to 2018
2019 2018 2019 2018
hectares tonnes tonnes
Manitoba 594,700 764,900 1,122,300 1,731,600 1,648,860
Saskatchewan 60,700 164,900 107,200 231,800 251,240
Alberta 2,800 7,400 4,900 11,600 n/a
Western Canada 658,200 937,200 1,234,400 1,975,000 1,900,100
Quebec 366,700 370,300 1,045,900 1,164,000 1,078,900
Ontario 1,260,400 1,222,200 3,708,200 4,200,500 3,789,180
Central CanadaFootnote 3 1,627,100 1,592,500 4,754,100 5,364,500 4,868,080
Prince Edward Island 18,800 16,600 36,400 43,200 47,380
New Brunswick 4,500 5,700 9,500 14,900 13,300
Nova Scotia 3,900 5,600 10,700 18,500 14,880
Maritimes 27,200 27,900 56,600 76,600 75,560
Total Canada 2,312,500 2,557,600 6,045,100 7,416,100 6,843,740