It was the bumper crop that almost was. Late in the summer, farmers watched helplessly as ripe canola ready for swathing or swaths waiting for the combine were tossed around and blown into trees, shattering on to the ground bushel after bushel of seed. Some estimate that as much as 10 bushels an acre was… Read More

According to the Canola Council of Canada’s press release, president Patti Miller has urged the Standing Committee on Finance to “sustain the momentum of Canada’s canola industry by supporting strategic investments and policy direction in three priority areas – research, market development and market access.” Her comments are in regards to up-coming potential changes to… Read More

Ah, October — when farmers’ thoughts turn to fall field work, turkey dinners and canola seed.  2012 was a tough year for the oilseed, there’s no doubt, but a difficult growing season can really highlight the strengths and weaknesses in your canola seed genetics. While some will stick with the tried and true, others are… Read More

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in harvested canola fields this fall. It might be because canola started coming off in late August or that there were so many acres this year that almost every second field is canola stubble, but whatever the reason, I’ve noticed most fields have a few things in common…. Read More

The market seemed surprised by the Statistics Canada report released this morning. Farmers did not.  StatsCan slashed a million tonnes from its earlier estimate and has pegged production at 13.2 million tonnes. Initial reaction from farmers was, Yes, we could’ve have told you that, but some market analysts are concerned the number is perhaps a… Read More

Cargill announced plans today to build a canola processing facility near Camrose, Alberta. Subject to receiving all required approvals, construction is expected to be completed in time for the 2014-15 canola harvest. The new crush facility is projected to have the capacity to process 850,000 metric tonnes of canola per year and will serve Alberta… Read More

If you were in the Airdrie area on the morning of the 20th and you thought you saw a farmer driving around a canola field with the Grey Cup, good news, you don’t have to worry if your health care covers psychiatric assistance, it actually happened! In fact this stop was part of a joint… Read More

It was strong demand for oilseed that resulted in a record number of acres of canola being planted in Western Canada this spring. Unfortunately, that record number of acres didn’t translate into a record crop. Weather, disease and other factors gave the Western Canadian canola crop a solid beating this year. The result, as Moe… Read More

Blackleg, a fungal disease of canola, is getting away with murder. That’s right, murder. This fall, dead, brittle canola plants at swathing or harvest are being attributed, sometimes very wrongly, to sclerotinia infection when, in fact, blackleg is to blame. It’s likely been happening for years, Clint Jurke, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of… Read More

Farmers hauling Cargill’s Specialty Canola Oil canola to Clavet, Sask., will soon see new ground being broken for a first-of-its-kind for Canada edible oil refinery, Cargill recently announced. The world-scale canola oil refinery is slated for a 2014-15 open. “(The refinery) represents the first investment of this kind for Cargill in Canada and is one… Read More

As readers have been talking about on RealAgriculture.com, the early canola yields are below expectations.  One of the reasons for the lower yields that hasn’t been mentioned is the role that wind has played in some areas. Below is a picture that seems to sum up how frustrating harvest can be sometimes.  Pretty hard to… Read More

If there is a pattern developing in the 2012 harvest across Western Canada it would have to be the disappointing canola yields. Farmers have taken to Twitter to display there disappointment in the yields.  One of the common threads has been, “I have 50 bushel swaths and 25 bushel yields.” With over twenty million acres… Read More

Am I the only one left scratching my head over the newly minted CWB offering canola pools? Voluntary pooling is all good, if that’s what you’re in to, but I thought a very recent survey asking farmers if they’d be interested in a canola pool went over like a lead balloon. Apparently not, according to… Read More

 

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