SASKATOON (Staff) – It might be easier for farmers to resort to the old children’s rhyme, eenie meenie minie mo, when choosing a new canola variety.
Last week the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee gave its approval for more than 20 new canolas including 15 new Argentine varieties.
“There’s some very good stuff in what’s come forward and some mediocre material as well,” said Keith Downey, who sat on the canola subcommittee.
There are times when Downey said he wonders about the logic of recommending another 15 Argentine types of canola to an already long list of almost indistinguishable Argentine canolas already available.
“The data on the new ones is not nearly as complete as what we used to have in the past.
“They aren’t able to generate the depth of information on the performance we used to be able to do. It’s a real disadvantage for producers,” said Downey.
But there is an increasing number of new canola varieties that are blackleg resistant, he said.
