China’s ban on imports of Canadian canola may have played a part in lower seeded acreage this spring.

StatsCan’s latest crop survey says farmers planted 8.2 percent fewer acres to canola this spring.

Regina Commodities futures advisor with P.I. Financial, Adam Pukalo, says weather and markets affected seeding plans this spring.

He says it will be interesting to see how accurate the figure is at harvest.

Oat acreage in the June Field Crop Survey was pegged at 3.6 million acres up 18 percent.

He says the increase is mainly centred in Saskatchewan.

Spring wheat acreage is up 8 percent but durum is down 21 percent due to lower demand.

The survey says barley acreage this spring was reported at 7.4 million acres, up 14 percent from 2018.

Producers reported planting 5.7 million acres of soybeans in 2019, down 9.6 percent from last year.

Lentil acreage was up marginally to 3.8 million acres, despite ongoing import tariffs imposed by India.

Farmers reported planting 19.8 percent more dry peas this spring, up to 4.3 million acres.

The increase was concentrated primarily in Saskatchewan, with an additional 400 thousand acres seeded to dry peas this year.