You can’t really blame mice and deer from taking a bite out of overwintering canola swaths — your crop is literally a giant buffet for them. And, of course, animals have never heard the saying “don’t poop where you eat,” and so, to add insult to injury, not only has overwintered canola been downgraded by… Read More
Category: Canola School
The unprecedented amount of canola left in the field over winter in Saskatchewan and Alberta has producers and processors trying to figure out the value of this crop. Very little research has been done previously on the impact of snow and over-wintering on canola quality, says Veronique Barthet, oilseed research scientist at the Canadian Grain… Read More
Wet conditions prevented normal fall fertilizer application in parts of Western Canada last fall, leaving growers looking at options for delivering nitrogen to this year’s crop. As Don Flaten, soil scientist at the University of Manitoba, explains in this episode of Canola School, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Growers will have to consider their limiting factors… Read More
As the Canadian government contemplates moving forward on a free trade agreement with China, the canola industry sees tremendous potential to increase exports to the country that already imports more canola seed than any other. That’s because Canadian canola seed headed to China currently faces a nine percent tariff, whereas the tariff on soybeans is… Read More
President Trump’s U.S.-first biofuel policy could be bullish for Canadian canola demand, according to the president of Chicago-based Ag Resource Company. As Dan Basse explains in this market-themed Canola School episode, the United States imported about two million tonnes of B100 biodiesel from Argentina last year, offering a dollar/gallon tax credit for it. “A lot… Read More
Canola seed in Canada could soon come with a label describing the variety’s blackleg disease resistance package, similar to the labeling system used in Australia. After around four years of discussions between seed companies, researchers, and growers, an agreement-in-principle has been reached on blackleg resistance labeling, says Clint Jurke, agronomy director with the Canola Council of Canada,… Read More
Food and conversations are two fundamental parts of holiday plans for many people, as we head out to Christmas dinners and New Year parties with family and friends. If you’re a farmer, chances are someone will ask “how was harvest?” or “how’d the weather impact your farm this year?” or the popular “how much is a combine these days?,”… Read More
Seed companies are turning to new sources of resistance to protect canola against blackleg disease, as the pathogen population in Western Canada has adapted over the years. Until recently, most of the varieties marketed as “blackleg resistant” relied on what’s known as the Rlm3 gene, explains Sakaria Liban, pathologist with DL Seeds, in this episode of… Read More
Update: The Canola Council of Canada has developed online calculators to determine your target plant density based on your individual field conditions, abilities and appetite for risk, as well as optimum seeding rate. You can find them at CanolaCalculator.ca. While the official industry recommendation for an optimal canola plant stand remains 7 to 10 plants per square… Read More
The clubroot story in Western Canada continues to be written as researchers are finding additional strains of the pathogen that are capable of overcoming genetic resistance. So far, 13 new variants have been identified since the breakdown of resistance was first confirmed in 2013, explains Stephen Strelkov, plant pathology researcher at the University of Alberta. “We think resistance… Read More