Producing 15 million tonnes of canola a year may not require more acres, but farmers will need to get more bushels from the acres they have.
Agronomy will hold the key to reaching those numbers, says Denise Maurice of the Canola Council of Canada.
She told a Farm Tech audience in Edmonton last month that yields will need to jump to 43 bu. per acre from their long-term average in the low to mid 30s if 2009’s seeded acres are used as a guide.
Prairie producers grew canola on slightly less than 16 million acres last year and produced 10.3 million tonnes. The estimated average yield was 28.7 bu. per acre.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
Maurice said research programs and information initiatives are underway to improve farmers’ access to better agronomy. The canola council is surveying producers so that it better understands grower practices and identifies gaps in the transfer of information to the farm.
“The survey information will be very useful in developing future extension activities,” Maurice said.
The council is also working with universities and provincial and federal governments to develop new canola and flax research. The process has attracted 31 project proposals and $10 million in funding for oil and agronomy research.
Other initiatives include the new combine clinic that was held in January and research into harvest strategies.
As well, Agriculture Canada has funded a four year, $2 million clubroot project to better understand the pathogen’s virulence and how it might become resistant to current control systems.
Critical factors in controlling clubroot include managing the disease through observation in a field nursery and evaluating the effectiveness of methods to disinfect farm machinery.
Maurice said it is also important for producers to better understand how their pesticide practices affect Canada’s export prospects because foreign buyers are becoming less tolerant of chemical residues.
Products such as lindane, malathion, amitrol and Ronilan are all spoilers in the marketplace.
These issues may not directly affect canola production, but Maurice said trade interruptions can prompt producers to reduce the number of acres they commit to the crop.
