Dwindling industry support from seed companies has led the Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) to cut their canola variety trials a year early.
The organization’s Canola Variety Evaluation Trials (CVET), launched in 2024, was originally supposed to span three years, according to Amy Delaquis, the canola group’s research and agronomy manager.
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WHY IT MATTERS: The Canola Variety Evaluation Trials promised independent testing of how different canola variety trials performed in real Manitoba conditions across the province.
“The hope was that we’d continue efforts in getting more seed companies to be involved in the program, by essentially running a really good program, and that just wasn’t what happened,” Delaquis said.
The program was meant to give farmers unbiased information to compare seed options and choose the best variety tailored for their local conditions. Data offered was regionally specific and independently tested commercial canola varieties. The idea was to help producers get the most out of their seed purchases.
Varieties put up for testing though, were missing some big names.
The 2025 trials spanned eight sites across the province and included 11 Liberty Link and four Roundup ready/Truflex varietys, including checks. They included varieties from BrettYoung, Winfield United Canda, Canterra Seeds, BASF’s InVigor line and newcomer Maizex Seeds.
BASF’s InVigor L340PC — Manitoba’s most popular canola variety, planted on about 33.5 per cent of insured canola acres according the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation — was the Liberty Link check for the trials. Manitoba’s second most popular major variety contender last year, InVigor L356PC, planted on 20.2 per cent of insured canola acres, was also included.
Overall though, only four of Manitoba’s top 10 canola varieties, as recorded by the provincial crop insurance corporation, were part of the trial.
Trials shuttered
After two years, the decision to drop the program didn’t come lightly.
“This program was a tool that allowed for an understanding of which varieties, across companies, are best suited to tackle the challenges farmers are facing on their farms,” Delaquis said.
In a press release sent out on March 27, MCGA directly cited a lack of seed company involvement as the factor that “eroded” the program’s direct value to producers.
However, Delaquis said the problem wasn’t sudden or unexpected.
“It’s always been a challenge in this program to get seed companies to enter their varieties,” she said, adding that most seed companies source data from their own field programs.
The program’s launch was actually delayed a year due to a lack of enthusiasm from seed companies.
A disappointing end to a promising program
The lukewarm reaction from companies has been disappointing to deal with, said Nicolea Dow, chair of MCGA’s research and agronomy committee.
“As farmers, we saw real value in the Manitoba CVET program. It was the last place in Canada for truly independent, side-by-side comparisons of canola varieties,” she said.
Program unlikely to return
Delaquis isn’t optimistic that the program will be making a return any time soon.
“We weren’t able to represent enough varieties that farmers were able to use the data to make good, actionable decisions,” she said.
Instead, Delaquis pointed farmers to the variety evaluation program run by North Dakota State University.
