Tom Borgen credits canola with keeping many farms afloat in North Dakota.
With sagging wheat prices, farmers in that state have embraced canola as diversification. North Dakota is now the largest canola producer in the United States, and the number of acres committed to that crop is climbing.
“Had it not been for canola in the last three years there would have been a huge decrease in farms,” said Borgen, president of the Northern Canola Growers Association.
“It’s what’s paying the bills. It’s subsidizing the loss that we’re taking in wheat.”
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Statistics best tell the tale of how popular canola has become in North Dakota. There were 22,500 acres sown to the crop in 1992. It’s believed farmers in that state planted about 900,000 acres to canola this year. Borgen expects the tally to reach 1.3 million acres in 1999.
The crop fits well into field rotations, and people are becoming better acquainted with how to grow it.
“It’s a good cash crop for us,” said John Cook, who farms near Mohall, N.D. “It’s far better than wheat, barley or durum.”
Cook first planted canola on his farm in 1995. The oilseed crop now covers about a quarter of his fields. Barley, wheat and durum remain the other dominant crops.
“We started raising canola because we needed a break in the rotation,” Cook explained while in the midst of harvesting his crop. “It was strictly a production tool.”
Cook is also a director with the Northern Canola Growers Association. He said canola has spread to all regions of North Dakota and would be even more popular if farmers there had better options to control weeds and disease.
“We have far less chemicals registered for use in canola than Canadians do,” Cook said. “We’re working to get that straightened out.”
Most of the canola grown in North Dakota goes to crushing plants in North Dakota and Manitoba. North Dakota supplies 20 percent of the U.S. demand for the oilseed crop, Borgen said. The balance is bought from Canada.
Despite the surge in canola production, Borgen doubts a time will come when the state and Canadian farmers become rivals for markets.
“We don’t hurt each other,” he said. “North Dakota would never be able to supply the demand in North America or the United States for canola. It’s always going to come from Canada.”
The acreage sown to wheat and barley declined in North Dakota this year. Wheat acreage there is now back to “more traditional levels,” said Paul Thomas of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association.
Although the number of acres seeded to canola is climbing, Thomas expects wheat to remain an important crop in North Dakota. However, he also believes few farmers will be left untouched by the trend toward greater crop diversity.”We think you’re going to see the rotational crops being implemented on everybody’s farm. It’s going to be normal to see four or five crops in your rotation rather than two.”
