Our History: Canola was a ‘calculated’ risk

It was about three dozen years ago that my friends and colleagues at the then Rapeseed Association of Canada invited me over to discuss the specifications and definition for a new crop. When I arrived, Al Earl, the executive director of the association told me that the board had decided to name the new double-zero-type

Nutraceutical firm seeks borage growers

Borage has been prized for its curative powers since ancient times. In Roman times, the naturalist Pliny regarded it as an antidepressant, and a famous herbalist from the 16th century wrote that a syrup made from borage “comforteth the heart, purgeth melancholy, and quieteth the phrenticke or lunaticke person.” For Prairie farmers who may fit


Heat-damaged canola crop creates supply shortages

Reuters / Supply worries about Canada’s disappointingly small canola harvest this year are compounded by the oilseed’s reduced oil content, crimping profits for crushers and leaving food companies to scramble for other vegetable oils. Expectations were high early in the crop year that a record-large canola crop in Canada would compensate for some of the

Dry Australia cuts wheat forecast

sydney / reuters / Australia has cut its forecast for wheat production in the 2012-13 crop-marketing year by about seven per cent from its previous forecast to 22.5 million tonnes. And it’s warning yields may fall further if rains don’t arrive soon in some areas. Australia had a record 29.5-million-tonne wheat harvest last year, but


Oil World ups global rapeseed forecast

hamburg / reuters / Analyst Hamburg Oil World predicts the 2012-13 rapeseed/canola crop will rise by two million tonnes this year to 61.6 million tonnes. It estimates Canadian production will be 16.2 million tonnes — up from 14.5 million tonnes last year. It predicts China will import 2.7 million tonnes (up from 2.4 million last

Ethiopian mustard a new biofuel option

Some of those yellow flowers you see blooming in Western Canada this summer might not be canola, but Ethiopian mustard, a new brassica crop intended for biodiesel and bioproducts. Kevin Falk, a research scientist with Agriculture Canada, specializes in breeding Polish canola and Ethiopian mustard, and has been working with them since 1995. He told


CDC Triffid contamination on the decline

Officials from Canada’s flax industry are in Europe this week to brief government and industry officials on the progress Canada is making removing traces of CDC Triffid, a genetically modified (GM) flax, from Canadian flax. “It’s getting less and less frequent and less and less intense,” Flax Council of Canada president Will Hill said in

Social media: Lending credibility to marketing in the digital age

Just being good isn’t enough. Being special can elevate products like canola oil to new levels and increase sales

Low in saturated fat and high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids canola oil, offers clear health benefits to consumers. But marketers can’t expect the product to sell itself — they need to grease the wheels. Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist, author and consultant spoke at the Canola Council of Canada’s convention in Washington, D.C. about


2011 canola crop high in quality and oil

  Last year’s canola crop was high quality with a larger-than-normal oil content, according to a recently released report from the Canadian Grain Commission. Of the 1,749 samples analyzed, 85.0 per cent graded No. 1, which compares with 75.3 per cent in 2010. The highest-quality crops were in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Oil content was pegged