Four Pillars of the Canola Innovation Stratagy

The canola industry contributes $29.9 billion to the Canadian economy annually, including 207,000 jobs from growing, processing and exporting canola. With major expansions to Canada’s canola processing capacity anticipated in the next few years, canola has the opportunity to strengthen its place among the major growth sectors in the Canadian economy.

Canadian canola can also be a beacon for what the world needs from its agriculture sectors. With research, technology, and predictable and aligned regulations, the canola value chain can increase productivity per acre, satisfy its customers and continue to lower its environmental footprint per tonne of seed, oil and meal produced.

This Canola Innovation Strategy, developed through 28 in-depth consultations with major stakeholders, provides an aligned value chain vision, from farm to customer, for the innovations we need to keep getting better.

Through the long-term vision of this strategy, growers, government (including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and the provinces), universities and private researchers can collaborate to increase the chances for success.

The Canola Innovation Strategy has four key pillars – performance, precision, protection and product – and emphasizes that sustainability is part of everything we do.

Pillar 1: Performance

The need: To increase productivity (yield per acre) and meet current and future customer needs for oil and protein while remaining a top crop for Canadian producers, sequestering more carbon in the soil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. More productivity on the same land will also help Canada protect its landscape, increase diversity and preserve non-farmed spaces.

Focus On:

• Yield intensification. Increase the efficiency through analysis of each crop input and land management practice.
• Nutrient use efficiency. Identify the current nitrogen use efficiency for canola in Canada, how much is lost during production and why, and how to reduce losses and improve efficiency.
• Genetic improvements. Canola seed will continue to provide solutions for yield intensification, climate adaptation and other agronomic traits.
• Soil health. Foundational research on soil health, particularly the rhizosphere and root-soil interactions, can reduce plant disease impact, increase carbon sequestration, improve nutrient use efficiency and increase yield.
• Abiotic stress resilience. Canola plants able to withstand drought, heat and excess moisture will increase yields and potentially reduce inputs.
• Plant architecture and photosynthesis. The best carbon sequestration tool is the green plant and photosynthesis. Improved leaf retention could also increase oil content and carbon efficiency.

Advocate for:

• Regulations that support innovation. Canada can take a lead role on a science- and risk-based, harmonized regulatory system for plant breeding and genetics tools, including gene editing and RNA interruption (RNAi) technology.
• Harmonized global seed purity regulations, especially for low-level presence, to limit trade impediments and increase seed industry investments.
• Intellectual property policy with good patent protection so seed developers are incentivized to create value.
• Transparent and predictable variety registration. Address varietal purity and confined field trial requirements to continue to ensure no environmental release of unapproved events while also not limiting commercialization of new traits.
• Communication. This includes communication of grower needs for seed traits and agronomy practices, 4R nutrient management practices and research results that will improve canola management practices.

Pillar 2: Precision

The need: Use current and new technologies to increase productivity and reduce the environmental footprint of canola.

Focus on:

• Strong starts. Research crop establishment factors to get the crop off to a strong start.
• Precision tools. Include canola in trials to study precision techniques that target inputs in a way that improves efficiency and yield.
• On-farm trials. Develop a model for on-farm testing for new management practices and products.
• Economic analysis. Require economic analysis on all canola funded projects.

Pillar 3: Protection

The need: Protect the crop from pests and other threats to productivity, including climate change factors, while also protecting markets. Protecting markets means using approved crop protection products and seed traits, and demonstrating attention to sustainability – including economic, environmental and social components.

Focus on

• Pre-commercial genetics. Foundational research can help to identify genetic improvements for tolerance to weather stress, adaptation to climate change, and resistance to root diseases, clubroot, sclerotinia and blackleg.
• Flea beetles. Create an industrywide consortium to improve flea beetle management.
• Biologicals. Encourage the development of effective biologicals for pest management.
• Crop protection alternatives. Encourage continued research into new and novel crop protection products.
• More cooperation. Encourage collaboration between government, growers and industry on setting research targets and paths to commercial launch.
• Biodiversity. Improving biodiversity in rural Western Canada includes understanding of beneficial insects and their economic value and identifying lower productivity areas that could be put back into perennial habitat.

Advocate for:

• Pest surveys. Provincial and federal governments need to continue pest surveys to help growers manage pests and to develop models for prediction and management.
• Performance indicators. Continue to work on objective performance information for growers to make the best decisions on their farms.
• Harmonized regulations. A globally harmonized, science- and risk-based regulatory system is necessary for re-approval of older products and for new product registrations.
• Trait management plans. Every product and trait needs a management plan to protect it from resistance.
• Market access for traits. An industry approach to responsible trait commercialization will help to ensure market access for canola.
• Alternative products. Canada needs a transparent and science-based regulatory system for new technology like RNAi and other alternative products. As an example, RNAi could allow for highly targeted crop protection products that pose no risk to off-target insects.
• Integrated pest management. Communicate how integrated pest management that combines varietal choice, cultural practices and agronomic decisions will protect the genetic traits and reduce the risk of resistant pathogens, weeds and insects.

Pillar 4: Product

The need: The most valuable part of the canola crop is the oil. Canada’s canola industry needs to supply current customers while also being flexible to adapt to changing market demands for oil, meal, protein and fuel.

Research on designer oil profiles or altered proteins will be based on market demand and led by commercial enterprises. These opportunities may develop into broad market drivers, but innovation must be integrated into the current value chain or through an identity-preserved system without affecting the integrity or profitability of the value chain.

Focus on:

• Oil content. Encourage research to maximize oil content.
• Processing. Encourage continued private research on processing technologies and methods that are safe for people, livestock and the environment while maintaining efficiency.
• Protein consortium. Develop a consortium of value chain members, private industry, public researchers and regulatory agencies to coordinate interests related to canola protein.
• Canola definition. Review the canola definition and rules for output traits that may be outside the primary definition. Canada’s canola industry must be open to emerging markets for health, functionality and biofuels while ensuring that we protect the current commodity oil and meal markets.

—Curtis Rempel is vice president, crop production and innovation, with the Canola Council of Canada.