Read short follow-ups on past Canola Digest articles, including the top yield for the Canola 100 Agri-Prize and a federal rail transportation bill.

Rail line running through a canola field

Updates

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Transportation bill coming soon

To follow up on his article in the November 2016 Canola Digest, CCGA policy manager Steve Pratte said in January that a railway reform bill could be introduced in “spring 2017”. As of January, the federal department of transportation was still consulting on technical details. “To get a legislative package through the house by end of sitting in June, it will likely need to be ready to go in early February to start the procedural process,” Pratte says. “Based on Minister Marc Garneau’s Transportation 2030 vision, the elements being discussed are going in the right direction.” Pratte outlined what reforms are needed for the good of producers and the grains-export industry in his article “Fundamental transportation issues remain” in the November 2016 Canola Digest.

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Growers, agronomists and anyone else involved in canola production will like the season-long updates and decision-making help in Canola Watch. The email comes out each week during the growing season. Content is based on information gathered from across the Prairies by CCC agronomy specialists, provincial government extension staff and many others. Sign up for free, timely and science-based email at canolawatch.org. You can also subscribe to the Canola Watch podcast on iTunes or Google Play and follow @CanolaWatch on Twitter.

Portrait photo of Patti MillerMiller moves on

Patti Miller, president of the Canola Council of Canada for almost five years, has taken on a new challenge as chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission. The new job began mid-February. Canola Digest thanks Patti for her contributions to the magazine over her term with the CCC and wishes her all the best in her new job!

SU-tolerant canola

Cibus sells its canola seed with resistance to sulfonylurea herbicide in the U.S. and, pending registration, could have a limited amount available in Canada in 2017. For U.S. growers of “SU Canola”, Cibus has a new grower program that includes a partnership with Cargill to offer premium grain contracts. SU Canola is non-GMO, developed through Cibus’s gene-editing technique mentioned in the “9 technologies that will change agriculture” feature in the January 2016 Canola Digest. Read that issue online at canoladigest.ca. Visit cibuscanola.com to learn more about SU Canola and the company.

Top yield for Canola 100 Agri-Prize is 81.43 bu./ac.

Mike Nelson’s 81.43 bu./ac. was the top yield in 2016 for Agri-Trend’s Canola 100 Agri-Prize. The Wetaskiwin, Alta. farmer was the only one to crack the 80 bu./ac. plateau. The contest will continue for two more growing seasons, with the goal to see who can reach 100 bu./ac. first. Rob Saik, former Agri-Trend CEO, started the contest in response to the Canola Council of Canada’s strategic plan to achieve a Canadian average yield of 52 bu./ac. by 2025. “Agri-Trend was already achieving 52 bu./ac. with a lot of our growers,” Saik says, so he started Canola 100 Agri-Prize to motivate a new yield benchmark. To enter, growers pay $100 to register a field. Then, if the field has potential, they pay another $1,000 at harvest to have the yield verified. Canola 100 Agri-Prize was mentioned in the feature, “Unlocking canola’s genetic potential for yield,” in the January 2017 Canola Digest. Read that issue online at canoladigest.ca.