American producers will plant more lentils but fewer peas in 2025.
Monday’s USDA prospective plantings report showed US lentil intentions for this year at 1.1 million acres, up 18% on the year and with a new record high in the No. 1 production state of Montana. In contrast, American dry pea intentions are seen at 895,000 acres, a drop of 8% from last year.
Here in Canada, a Statistics Canada report earlier this month said producers will plant 3.516 million acres of dry peas this spring, up 9.5% from a year earlier and the most since 2021 at 3.854 million. On the other hand, lentil planted area was pegged at 4.174 million acres, down a modest 0.8% from 2024 but still up from 3.668 million in 2023. However, planted area in Canada is still highly uncertain amid tariff and trade challenges. Earlier this month, China slapped tariffs on imports of Canadian agricultural products, including dry peas. Additionally, US tariffs on Canadian grain and grain products could be imposed as soon as Wednesday.
Today’s report put US new-crop flax intentions at 185,000 acres, a sharp 25% increase from last year, while total American sunflower area is seen rebounding 49% from last year’s record low to 1.07 million acres. Oil-type sunflower area is expected to soar 64% to 960,000 acres, while confection-type acres are projected to fall 12% to 112,000 acres.
US dry bean area, at 1.47 million acres, is expected to decline 4% on the year, while chickpea acres are seen expanding 12% to 561,000 acres.
On this side of the border, flax area is forecast to decline further, with 2025 acres estimated at 448,000, down 11% on the year and the lowest since 1949. Intended Canadian sunflower acres, at 58,500, are down 2.5% from last year and lowest since 35,000 in 2021, while national dry bean acres, at 357,200, are expected to fall 11.2% on the year but remain up from 318,300 in 2023. Canadian chickpea intentions are reported down 5.7% on the year to 453,000 acres, although that remains up from 315,500 in 2023.
