Dow AgroScience says it is developing canola varieties with protein content equal to soybeans with better digestibility
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — If canola meal can become as good as soybean meal to livestock feeders, canola farmers should see a lot more demand for their crops, says a U.S. feedgrains market expert.
“I think it’s going to be huge,” said Andy Vance of Feedstuffs magazine, in an interview at the Canola Council of Canada annual convention, March 3.
With current available varieties, canola meal struggled with low-protein and poor digestibility, which resulted in a heavily discounted price.
Only the dairy market favoured canola meal because of the digestive system of the milk cow. Yet even in that market canola attracted only discounted prices because of an overall lack of demand.
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Meanwhile, Canadian canola crushing has massively expanded, creating larger amounts of meal byproduct. Canola oil found strong markets, but the lack of demand for meal limited overall canola values.
Dow AgroScience’s announcement at the canola council convention March 1 that it plans to release canola varieties with protein content equal to soybeans, and with better digestibility, invalidates the old equation.
Now, Vance said, the new canola can be offered to feed formulators based on a value about equal to soybean meal.
However, feed makers have considerations beyond the simple math, so canola meal might not reach price parity with soybeans.
“Nutritionists and feed formulators, once we get a formula we like, we want to ride as long as we can go,” said Vance.
Canola meal providers must prove the feeder will get extra value from adding canola meal to the ration, otherwise they might as well stick with familiar soybean meal.
“It’ll be economics,” said Vance.
“Can you make that case that you can overcome that law of inertia? Does this give me more opportunity to put money in the bank?”
Canola meal’s biggest market is in California, which has the biggest dairy herd in the U.S. In 2014, almost US$500 million of canola meal was brought into California.
According to Feedstuffs, the price of soybean meal around Los Angeles was about $300 per ton, while canola meal was $235.
With high protein canola meal, pigs and poultry can use the product at much higher rates. It might also be better for dairy producers.
With more livestock industries buying canola meal, and dairy possibly even happier with the product, there’s a chance for canola to become a much more important feed product.
ed.white@producer.com
