Canola Can Complement Wheat for Southern Plains Growers 8/23/05

MANHATTAN, Kan. – When John Haas started farming more than 40 years ago, like many of his peers he expected to grow wheat, corn and grain sorghum – typical crops for his part of the country. Little did he know that years later he’d be growing canola – a crop more identified with Canada and the northern United States than southern Kansas.

Kansas State, Oklahoma State Establish Joint Canola Program

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University have established a Joint Canola Breeding and Management Program. K-State Research and Extension, based in Manhattan, will direct the program at K-State.

The objectives, said K-State Associate Director for Research Forrest Chumley, are to explore canola as a viable alternative oilseed and/or grazing crop for farmers in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The universities plan to hire a canola breeder who will be based at K-State. The breeder will build on work begun by former K-State canola breeder Charlie Rife, said Dave Mengel, head of K-State’s Department of Agronomy. Rife left earlier this year for a position in industry, but not before developing canola varieties for the southern Plains.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time we’ve created a joint position (with another university) within the College of Agriculture at KSU,” Mengel said. “Other universities have done this, but this is new for us. It is also a first for OSU.”

Jim Stiegler, head of OSU’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences estimated that Oklahoma growers planted 17,000 acres to canola last year. He expects that number to rise to 50,000 acres or more this year, based on seed sale data – not enough to justify hiring a full-time breeder to research the crop for the state.

“Neither of us had the resources to get everything done for ourselves. By working together we could accomplish our research mission and provide improved canola varieties for our producers. We are essentially erasing our borders when it comes to canola.. There will probably be more of this kind of collaboration in the future,” said Stiegler of the agreement with K-State.

The United States imports the canola equivalent (oil and seed) of “a couple of million acres” from Canada, Mengel said.

He believes that canola is especially suited for farms from McPherson in south central Kansas and south into Oklahoma: “That’s an area where we grow a lot of wheat, but it’s a fairly harsh climate – hot and dry. A lot of other crops don’t do well there.”

In Oklahoma, the bulk of farmland is devoted to wheat and cattle, said OSU’s Stiegler.

“Growers aren’t interested in letting wheat fields go fallow to break the grassy weed and disease cycle because they need the wheat for cattle forage,” he said. “With canola, we still have a crop, we still have forage, and we can reduce the grassy weed problem chemically.”

“Canola wasn’t even on the horizon at that point in time,” said Haas, who began farming just after graduation from Kansas State University in 1963. But the Larned, Kan.-area farmer has found it beneficial to think of different ways of doing things.

“My dad said you should learn something every day. I think there’s some truth to that. I like to try new things,” said Haas, who said that the first time his neighbors noticed the unusual crop and its bright yellow flowers, some thought he was growing turnips.

That’s not the first time Haas has surprised others around him: “I’ve been no-tilling since 1980. My neighbors thought I’d lost my marbles. But then they started counting the number of trucks coming out of the field at harvest time.”

Intrigued by the role that the broadleaf crop can play in reducing grassy weeds, disease and insects in wheat fields and working with former K-State canola breeder Charlie Rife, Haas began growing canola five years ago. He’s become such a believer that he’s the current president of the U.S. Canola Association.

“I think that the future of canola in the United States is in the southern Great Plains,” said Haas, who added that North Dakota leads the United States in canola production.

That belief in canola opportunities for southern Plains growers is shared by scientists at Kansas State and Oklahoma State universities. The schools recently signed an agreement to collaborate on canola research and to jointly hire a new canola breeder. (see accompanying story)

One big difference between northern U.S. and Canada production and southern Plains production is that canola is grown as a summer crop in the north and a winter crop in the south (including Kansas and Oklahoma).

At first blush it may appear a competitor to winter wheat, but Dave Mengel, head of the K-State Department of Agronomy said it complements winter wheat because it can help break disease, insect and weed cycles that often plague fields that are planted continuously to wheat.

Plus, Haas said, it requires no special equipment for planting or harvesting. Using the same equipment he uses for wheat, he plants in late August or early September and harvests just prior to wheat harvest in early summer. He hauls the crop to an elevator at Nickerson, Kan., which is a gathering point for southern Plains growers. From there it is shipped to a processor in North Dakota.

“Canola is the healthiest of all food oils available today – better than olive oil,” said Haas, who added that there’s a ready market for canola oil. Currently, 70 percent of canola used in the United States comes from Canada and Europe.

In Oklahoma, where producers often plant fields continuously to wheat and also early for forage, grassy weeds have become a real problem, said Jim Stiegler, head of the Department of Plant and Soil Science at OSU. Because wheat is itself a grass, herbicides to control grassy weeds like cheat, goatgrass and ryegrass are costly and can be ineffective.

“By planting canola in a rotation with wheat, we can still produce a salable crop and at the same time, control grassy weeds chemically,” said Stiegler, who cited Monsanto’s recent introduction of Roundup Ready canola as a positive step.

“We’ve looked at the feasibility of other crops, but this has the best possibility to complement and enhance our wheat production system,” he said. “We liked the yields and the price paid for the canola is reasonable. One of our biggest needs is for a canola crushing facility in the southern Plains. This would help stabilize the price and put more money into the producers pocket because transportation costs to North Dakota are high and this knocks several cents per pound off the price.”

Haas said there are numerous benefits to growing canola in addition to helping reduce grassy weeds and disease in wheat. It’s water efficient and can be a forage crop for livestock, with a relative food value (RFV) of 400, compared with 180 to 200 for alfalfa. When the oilseed is crushed it results in a high-protein meal that dairies, particularly, like to feed.

When wheat is planted after canola, the wheat yield is usually higher – as much as 10 percent – according to Haas.

“We’re not sure why,” he said, adding that it could be the result of less weed and disease pressure.

For more information on canola in the United States, interested persons can go to http://www.uscanola.com. The 2004 National Canola Variety Trial Results are available for downloading at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/crpsl2/srp937.pdf.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.