Biotech canola has swept through the Prairies like a yellow tidal wave, but there are still a few stragglers clinging to conventional canola varieties.
Eighty-seven percent of Canada’s 2007 canola crop was genetically modified, according to a recently released study on the global status of biotech crops.
The Canola Council of Canada says that number bumps up to 98 percent if BASF’s Clearfield canola is included in the total. While most of the world doesn’t consider Clearfield to be a biotech crop, Canada does because of its plants-with-novel-traits regulations.
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That leaves two percent of Canadian canola growers growing conventional or organic canola.
So who are these people?
“People who grow Polish canola are probably the biggest portion of that segment,” said Chris Anderson, the canola council’s vice-president for crop production.
All herbicide-tolerant canola varieties grown in Canada are of the Argentine species. However, some growers like the main agronomic benefit of the Polish species – it’s earlier maturing.
“It is grown in areas that typically have a reduced growing season or possibly in areas where it is particularly hot and dry, (where) they might be able to get the crop through before the heat hits,” said Anderson.
He said there is a group of farmers growing Polish canola in the Alberta foothills, another in the Peace River district of Alberta and British Columbia and some farmers in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.
Polish canola typically matures in 80 to 85 days compared to Argentine canola, which can take 90 to 120 days, depending on the variety and where it was planted.
“In some regions that’s really the difference between getting a crop and not getting a crop,” Anderson said.
Marcel Laliberte planted 130 acres of Polish canola on his farm near Peace River, Alta., last year, but it wasn’t just because it matures earlier than Argentine canola.
Laliberte is a certified organic farmer. Growing Polish varieties provides extra protection along with buffer strips against contamination from GM canola. While cross pollination between species is possible, it happens at a much lower frequency than between two Argentine varieties.
He said it is easy for organic inspectors to determine that his canola is GM-free.
“Argentine is much taller and a different colour,” he said.
His canola fetches about $20 per bushel from an Alberta organic oilseed crusher and the crop yields 15 to 20 bu. per acre, so a quarter section can generate $48,000 to $64,000 in gross revenue, with no deductions for fertilizer and chemicals. But that’s not the reason for going organic.
“For us it wasn’t the revenue. We just didn’t like to use the chemicals,” Laliberte said.
Other growers stick with conventional canola because they don’t like the seed costs or technology use fees associated with biotech crops, Anderson said. They are in the minority, however, with 98 percent of canola growers choosing to pay up-front costs for the higher yields associated with GM crops.
“Most people have signed on because it works for them, but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone,” Anderson said.
