Manhattan, Kansas
August 23, 2005
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.
"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.
Accompanying story
Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University establish
joint canola program
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 Assistant Dean 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 varieities 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."
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 in Manhattan. |