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Not that this anecdote means anything to the markets, but Canadian farmers grew more corn than canola in 2021, thanks to record corn yields in Ontario and severe drought on the Prairies.

Canola production for 2021 was pegged at 12.6 million tonnes, with corn coming in at 14.0 million tonnes, in Statistics Canada’s final crop estimates for the year, published on Friday.

While the canola number is down drastically from the 19 to 21.5 million tonne range of the last five years, it was in line with what the market was expecting.

The spring wheat production estimate from StatsCan was more surprising, coming in higher than anticipated at 16 million tonnes. The average pre-report trade guess was 14.7 million tonnes in a survey conducted by Intellifarm. (see tweet below)

The 14 million tonne corn estimate was driven by a provincial record-high 175.2 bu/ac average yield and 9.5 million tonnes of production in Ontario.

Soybean production was estimated at 6.3 million tonnes, down 5.6 per cent from last year, largely due to lower yields in Manitoba.

As for pulses, pea production fell 51 per cent from last year to 2.3 million tonnes. Lentil production was estimated at 1.6 million tonnes, down 44 per cent from last year.

Barley production, meanwhile, fell 35 per cent to 6.9 million tonnes in 2021, while oat production decreased by 43 per cent nationally to 2.6 million tonnes.

The report was based on a survey of approximately 27,200 farms, with representation from each province, and was conducted from October 8 to November 12, 2021. The estimates are still subject to revision for two years.

#statscan final production estimates for 2021.#canola as expected, spring #wheat higher than expected. #peas & #lentils lower than expected.#cdnag #westcdnag #marketing #riskmanagement pic.twitter.com/c55DYTVYVG

— IntelliFARM Inc (@IntelliFARMInc) December 3, 2021

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is set to publish a new rule that will allow the importation of live goat, sheep, and other ruminants, 30 days from December 12, 2021, provided they meet new regulatory requirements.

The existing rule has been in effect following the 2003 finding of BSE in a Canadian cow, stopping the movement of live sheep and goats over the age of 12 months.

Currently, only the importation of non-pregnant slaughter or feeder sheep under 12 months old from Canada, certain products from sheep and goats, and sheep and goat semen, are allowed into the U.S. from Canada.

Though sheep and goats do not carry BSE, they can be infected with a similar transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie.

“We are amending the regulations to remove BSE-related import restrictions on sheep and goats and most of their products because they are no longer warranted, and to add import restrictions related to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) for certain wild, zoological, or other non-bovine ruminant species because those animals pose a risk of introducing or spreading BSE or other TSEs,” APHIS says in its filing.

In the place of BSE-specific restrictions, the U.S. will establish a framework for evaluating “foreign regions and, as warranted, foreign flocks for scrapie status.” The framework may include: testing and establishing scrapie status, animal identification and traceability, record keeping for a specific period of time, and permitting.

The U.S. estimates the border re-opening will result in an annual net benefit of about US$15.1 million.