What will it take to increase production?

This is one of four essays, the winning entries in a scholarship offered by InVigor hybrid canola and Bayer CropScience. Each student received $2,500 toward their studies in the University of Saskatchewan agriculture and bioresources program. The scholarship was established in 2006 to recognize the 10th anniversary of InVigor hybrid canola and the U of S centennial. Each student was asked to write about how the canola industry could meet its goal of producing 15 million tonnes of canola by 2015.

With the goal put in place by the Canola Council of Canada to see Canada produce 15 million tonnes of canola by 2015, a difficult but not an impossible task can be realized.

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Canada produces roughly nine million tonnes of canola. To produce an additional six million tonnes will require all levels of the industry to step up and do their part.

For any industry to produce, there must be a market, and for there to be a market there must be demand. Because of this, it is essential to further increase the demand for canola.

Canola is mainly used for its oil in cooking, but it is also used in making biodiesel. As well, canola meal is used for livestock feed. Canola needs to be continuously marketed for its superiority in each of these uses.

For use in the cooking market, canola is a much healthier oil than its main competitors and new specialty oils that are high-oleic add even more health benefits that other oils do not offer.

Biodiesel is cleaner burning than regular diesel and will become the alternative as the green trend continues to move forward.

Canola meal is already used for feed in some areas of livestock but has room to grow as a food source for all types of livestock.

With research being done to extract the protein from the meal, it may open up the market for human consumption.

Not only do markets need to be there for Canadian producers to grow 15 million tonnes of canola, but it must be profitable for producers to provide for these markets.

This is where manufacturers of canola come in. Large sums of money need to be spent in research and development to create the highest yielding canola crop.

Varieties of canola need to be bred for a host of different conditions found across Canada, while disease tolerant varieties will also become more important as producers stretch crop rotations.

Manufacturers must continue to establish seed and chemical programs that are competitively priced to ensure producers can make a profit on their investment.

After there is a market in place and a way to be profitable in the market, it comes down to the producer to grow the 15 million tonnes of canola. For the producer to be efficient and grow a high yielding crop, information on how to grow a good crop needs to be accessible.

Agronomic research needs to be conducted by input manufacturers and spread throughout the industry.

Creating strong markets, profitable production options and providing a wealth of knowledge available to the producer are all steps to making canola a highly profitable crop.

As canola becomes a higher revenue crop, producers will be eager to invest and plant more.

With more acres and higher yields, Canada will be able to achieve its goal.