Grain corn is now consistently bigger than oats in Manitoba, and not just in height.
Last year, Manitoba farmers harvested 497,000 acres of grain corn and 429,000 acres of oats, using data from Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp., the provincial crop insurer.
It’s the second year in a row that farmers harvested more corn than oats in Manitoba — an acreage shift that could be the new normal.
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The 497,000 harvested acres is a record, and corn acres could climb even higher in 2025.
“Yes …. It feels positive this year,” said Morgan Cott, special crops agronomy extension specialist with the Manitoba Crop Alliance.
“I don’t usually [say] that. I’m usually expecting it [acres] to be flat.”
Cott spoke about corn acres during a coffee break at CropConnect, a crop industry conference held Feb. 12-13 in Winnipeg.
Despite a wet spring last year in Manitoba, corn pulled through the challenging conditions and produced strong yields, Cott said.
The average yield on the 497,000 harvested acres was 146 bushels per acre, says MASC. That’s 14 per cent higher than the 10 year average yield for grain corn in Manitoba.
In certain fields, or parts of a field, farmers were generating yields closer to 180 to 190 bu. per acre.
“For some guys, an amazing crop considering the start to the year,” said Carl Bangert, who farms near Beausejour, Man.
Bangert and many other growers are feeling upbeat about corn this winter. Like Cott, he expects corn acres will be “arrow up” in 2025.
The main reason is economics. Corn offers a better return on investment than competing crops.
As a result, established corn producers are expanding their acres and new growers are getting into corn.
“Especially in our area, I’m from the eastern region,” Bangert said. “We’ve noticed in the last couple of years that there’s a lot of new growers that were interested and have jumped off the fence. [They’re] now putting corn in the ground.”
Achieving a big yield like 180 bu. per acre is one thing, but yield stability is also important.
The latest corn hybrids have a track record of producing solid yields, even in years when growing conditions are less than ideal.
Grain corn acres are very small in Saskatchewan, but the crop is gaining ground in the province. Last year, farmers seeded 132,000 acres of corn, Statistics Canada says. The bulk of it was corn for silage (or grazing), which was 100,000.
In Alberta, corn acres have been stable for the last six years. In 2019, farmers seeded about 300,000 acres of silage and grain corn. Last year, they seeded 305,000 acres.
