A well-known market analyst has slashed his canola production estimate as a result of losses caused by the very strong wind on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Larry Weber with Weber Commodities surveyed 47 farmers. (26 in Saskatchewan, 18 in Alberta and 3 in northwest Manitoba)

Based on their responses, Weber is now forecasting a western Canadian canola crop of 12.57 million metric tonnes. That is well below the 15 million tonnes than had been anticipated early this summer and the 14.15 million tonnes contained in Weber's mid-August forecast.

About half of the Saskatchewan canola crop was harvested before the wind, but the losses are still are still staggering. Weber is estimating average yield losses due to seed shattering and unharvestable swaths at about 25 per cent.

That works out to 818,900 lost tonnes of canola production in Saskatchewan and 1,557,101 tonnes in western Canada. At current prices, the losses are equivalent to one billion dollars.

There will also be added expenses next year when it comes to controlling all of the volunteer canola.