The U.S. Department of Agriculture's prospective planting intentions report from last week brought a few surprises to the markets.

The report expects a six per cent drop in overall American wheat acreage, and a 14 per cent drop in spring wheat acres.

G3 Canada's weather and crop specialist Bruce Burnett says these numbers are quite low.

"The overall wheat plantings in the U.S. (would be) the lowest since 1970, and in fact if you go past 1970 — which was caused by a set-aside program — you have to go back to 1910 to find wheat areas that are as low as this in the U.S.," he says, "so certainly that provided some support for the wheat markets."

Burnett says wheat markets rallied on Thursday following the report's release, and with the International Grains Council also predicting lower expectations for global wheat acreage, Burnett thinks last week's market moves will likely be indicative of longer-term impacts.