From DHARRIS@upei.caFri Nov 3 20:42:46 1995 Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 13:13:07 -0400 (AST) From: Donald Harris To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." Subject: Re: Canola October 2, 1995 EMAIL RESPONSES - CANOLA DOWNSIDE Date sent: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 09:47:25 -0400 From: gary.elliot@icis.on.ca (Gary Elliott) Subject: negative aspects of canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: DHARRIS@upei.ca There is a book written by Brewster Kneen from Toronto called "The Rape of Canola". I have seen the book but not read it,except for certain excerpts. I have talked to Kneen at an organic conference at the University of Guelph last year and I think you would find him and his book quite informative about some of the downsides of canola. I do not have a number for Kneen but the book should be available through the library.He also puts out a newsletter called the Rams Horn. I am an organic farmer near Parkhill ontario and would be interested in your results. I've been asked to try and grow canola organically by an organic food processor in Toronto Good Luck Gary Elliott R R 4 Parkhill,Ontario N0M 1Z0 gelliot@icis.on.ca Date sent: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 09:39:32 -0500 From: bradbury@acn.purdue.edu (Melinda Bradbury) Subject: re: Downside of Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: DHARRIS@upei.ca Mr. Harris: I forwarded your request for info regarding the downside of canola to Dr. Ellsworth Christmas, Extension Agronomist at Purdue University. He emailed his response to me - I am not sure if he emailed it to you as well so am emailing his response to you. I apologize if you receive it twice. Dr. Christmas has done much research with canola here in Indiana. His email address is Ellsworth_Christmas@acn.purdue.edu He can be reached via telephone at 317-494-6373 Melinda_Bradbury@acn.purdue.edu ----- Begin Included Message ----- From Ellsworth=Christmas%dept%agronomy@dept.agry.purdue.edu Fri Sep 29 09:33 EST 1995 Date: Fri, 29 Sep 95 09:31:41 EST From: Ellsworth=Christmas%dept%agronomy@dept.agry.purdue.edu Subject: re: Downside of Canola To: bradbury@acn.purdue.edu Cc: | ----- End Included Message ----- | To: Don Harris I have been conducting field research with canola for the past 5 years in Indiana. In my opinion, winter canola is not hard on the soil if properly fertilized as is the case with any other crop grown in our state. The only downside that I have heard of is the possibility that the roots of the canola may enter field tiles and cause some plugging. I have not verified this potential problem. I will send you a copy of the extension publication that we are currently using in Indiana. Ellsworth P. Christmas Ellsworth_Christmas@acn.purdue.edu ----- End Included Message ----- Date sent: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 09:34:09 +1000 From: daniel@tas.for.csiro.au (Daniel Mendham) Subject: Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: Donald Harris Donald, I just read your posting on AGRIC-L, and I can provide you with some information about canola that I know - I hope that you find it useful... Firstly I will relate my connections with the crop; We have been growing canola on our own farm for 4-5 years now, Also I had a summer job working with hybrid canola for a seed company (Pacific Seeds in Australia) between 1988 and 1995. My Father has also done a reasonable amount of research into the physiology and breeding of canola - You may come accross him in your literature search (His name is Neville Mendham). I think that it is a very good crop. I am not sure of the economics of the normal situation of growing for oil crushing. We are involved in the hybrid seed production down here in Tasmania, as we can grow it in the off season for both Canada and Mainland Australia. We are paid a reasonable amount (about $1.00 / kg), but also the crop requires a fair bit of maintenance. The reason why I replied to your posting was that you asked whether canola was hard on the soil. I think that in a lot of ways it is very good for the soil. It has been reported to be involved in 'biological drilling,' which means that the tap root is ver y persistant, and can break through compacted layers of soil. the holes that are left once the canola has died are used by the proceeding crops in order to exploit a greater volume of soil. This is especially useful in situations where the soil has been a b used by farmers, and there is a very compacted layer of soil just below the plough layer. Another advantage that canola (as well as other brassica crops) seems to purvey is that of 'biological fumigation,' whereby the glucosinolates in the roots act as a powerful fumigant, once the roots senesce and start to decay. This effect has been reporte d to reduce populations of weed seeds, as well as fungi... If this isn't good for the soil, I don't know what is!!!! Canola is also a very competitive plant when it is grown as a crop, and given a good start, it will intercept the vast majority of light before it gets to the soil. This has the effect of killing off most of the weeds that germinate when the canola is in the soil. It is not unusual to be able to look beneath the canopy of a canola crop, and not see anything biological (except for a few slugs). From my own observations, the root system of canola is such that there is a number of fine roots in the top few centimetres, and then a tap root which goes a fair way down into the profile. Aside from the issue of biological drilling, the fine roots will probably also aid soil structure, much in the manner of eg. wheat or barley. The fact that not much of the crop is removed at harvest time (only the seeds taken away from the paddock) means that most of the nutrients in the trash have a chance to return to the soil through decomposition or burning. The seed is high in protein (I think, anyway!), and removal of N may be a problem if it is not replaced, but even so, it may help to control acidity through leaching of nitrate through the soil. One problem that we do experience is regrowth in other crops, but fortunately it is easy enough to kill if you have the right chemicals and cultural practices. I can imagine that continous cropping with canola (if this is practiced at all) could be detrimental to soil health, but this is the case for virtually any crop. Of course, it needs to be put into a proper place in a balanced rotation. I hope that you find some of this interesting/ useful, I would be interested in seeing a copy of your results when you decide to compile them. One interesting reference that you may be able to get a hold of is Ralph, W. (1993); A sustainable cropping system for the south-east. Rural Research, Spring 1993. This is an Australian publication, which you may have trouble getting hold of - I don't know how wide its distribution is. Cheers Daniel ____________________________________________________ Daniel Mendham CRC for Temperate Hardwood Forestry Tasmania, Australia Telephone (international) + 61 02 207967 Fax (international) + 61 02 207942 E-mail D.Mendham@tas.for.csiro.au ____________________________________________________ Date sent: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 07:44:19 +0700 (GMT) From: Richard Tinsley Subject: Re: Downside of Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: Donald Harris You might like to contact Dwane Johnson in Fort Collins. He was responsible for introducing Canola to Colorado. His address would be: Dwane Johnson Department of Soil and Crop Science Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Phone: 970-491-6517 Fax: 970-491-0564 email: djohnson@vines.colostate.edu or djohnson@lamar.colostate.edu Good luck with your inquiry Dick Tinsley Date sent: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 12:50:46 -0400 From: gwg2@cornell.edu (Gilbert (Gil) W. Gillespie Jr.) Subject: Re: Downside of Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: Donald Harris I also recommend that you look at the social aspects of canola. To counteract the glowing reports, I recommend a couple of contacts: Prof. Lawrence Busch Michigan State University Lawrence.Busch@ssc.msu.edu Brewster Kneen (has recently moved to BC, but I can't find address) 125 Highfield Rd. Toronto, Ontario M4L 2T9 416-469-8414 **************************************************************************** Gil Gillespie voice: 607-255-1675 Department of Rural Sociology fax: 607-255-9984 Cornell University e-mail: gwg2@cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853-7801 USA Once I thought a bad environment produced bad people, now I fear the opposite. Date sent: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 11:17:41 -0400 From: pdc1@cornell.edu (Paul Curtis) Subject: Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: Donald Harris Don- One of our field crops faculty members has a canola test field on Game Farm Rd. in Ithaca, NY, near the Cornell University campus. His research technician visited with me in July, and noted that they were experiencing tremendous bird damage and losses in the plot. This would preclude planting canola near marsh areas where large concentrations of grain-eating blackbirds are common, or else investing in bird mitigation techniques. I hope this info is helpful. -Paul Curtis ******************************** Paul D. Curtis Extension Wildlife Specialist Department of Natural Resources Room 114, Fernow Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-3001 Phone: 607-255-2835 Fax: 607-255-2815 E-mail: pdc1@cornell.edu ******************************** Date sent: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 07:51:57 -0700 (PDT) From: An Hang Subject: Downside of Canola Forwarded to: DHARRIS@acad1.cs.upei.ca To: Don Harris Dear Don: In the Pacific Northwest, USA, I don't see any downside aspect of canola. It isn't hard to the soil as you have heard. May be the problem is associated with volunteers after the growing season and 4-5 more years later. In the east, they have problems due to growing season, insect, disease and weed. In the west we found out that winter canola helps control soil erosion during the winter and break down disease insect and weed cycles, to improve soil tilth .... If growers don't grow that crop it will due to the scheme of their crop rotation, water available... Some growers in the far north could not grow the crop every year due to the length of the growing season... I would appreciate receiving a report from you. Mrs. An N. Hang Associate Agronomist WSU-IAREC Prosser Rt. 2 Box 2953-A Prosser, WA 99350 Phone: (509)786-9201 Fax (509) 786-9370 email ahang@beta.tricity.wsu.edu The purpose of this handout is to provide background information about rapeseed and rapeseed production in Oregon and to speculate about potentials and problems. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1. Rapeseed is not a new crop. It has been grown in China for centuries and in Oregon since the turn of the century. 2. Rapeseeds can be grown for forage, birdseed, and/or oil. Some varieties are suited for all uses while others have been bred for a single purpose. Oilseed rapes are grown on the largest acreage world wide and are subdivided into two types based on oil characteristics - high erucic (industrial oil types) and low erucic (edible oil types). 3. All oils are made up of fatty acids. Fatty acids are or- ganic molecules which differ in carbon chain length. Soy- bean oil is composed primarily of fatty acids that are 16 to 18 carbons long. Erucic acid, a fatty acid found in some rapeseeds, is 22 carbons long. Long fatty acid chains have more potential uses than shorter chain types as they can be used as is or be chemically divided into shorter chain lengths. 4. Erucic acid is undesirable in an edible oil since research has shown it can cause heart lesions in rats. Their effect on humans is uncertain. Edible rapeseeds have to have less than 2 percent erucic acid. Edible rapeseed soils are similar in fatty acid composition to soybean oil. Edible rapeseed oil is not chemically unique and will need to be price competitive in the world market. 5. Industrial rapeseeds have a erucic acid content in excess of 40%. 6. Glucosinolates are sulfur containing compounds found in rapeseed meal, but are not unique to rapeseed. The sharp taste of mustards is due in part to glucosinolates. Glucosi- nolates depress animal growth through deleterious effects on the thyroid. They also produce toxic thiocyanate and nitrite when digested. Glucosinolate levels vary considerably among varieties. Low levels (less than 30 umol/gram of meal) are desired if residual meal is to be used as livestock feed. 7. Canola is the designation given edible rapeseed varieties that are low in both erucic acid (less than 2%) and glucosi- nolates (less than 30 u moles per gram). Canola is a name "coined" by the Canola Council of Canada. 8. The designation "double low" means low in erucic acid and glucosinolate. Single low means the variety is low in erucic acid only. The current world export market is for double low (Canola) varieties. 9. Winter rapeseeds can be grown throughout the Pacific Northwest. Winter types have distinct advantages over spring types. Winter varieties will out yield springs by about a two-to-one ratio and tend to have a higher oil content (springs = 40-42%, winters = 42-46% oil). Winter types also mature several weeks earlier than spring types and the crop could be marketed when free stocks would traditionally be at a low point in the marketing season. Thus, PNW growers of winter rapeseeds should have several marketing advantages over other exporters. 10. There is a growing demand for whole rapeseed. Canada is the world's leading exporter and Japan the leading importer. The Japanese are interested in a quality product at a competitive price and winter rape in the Pacific Northwest should be able to meet these market demands. 11. Low rainfall dryland yields of rapeseed have averaged 1000-1500 lb/A in recent years. High rainfall and irrigated yields have ranged from 3000 to over 4200 lb/A. Contract prices in 1991 averaged around 11› per lb. At 11› per pound and average yield levels, rapeseed is comparable to barley in cash return per acre. ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS Anticipated problems with rapeseed production can be divided into four areas of concern: 1. cross-pollination; 2. volunteer plants; 3. increased disease in other crops; and 4. storage. Each of these concerns is addressed below. 1. Cross-pollination could be a problem at two different levels. First, industrial oil cultivars could cross-pollinate with edible oil types. Resulting seed would likely have an erucic acid content between two and forty percent and would be unsaleable as either an edible or industrial oilseed. If the crop were for seed stock itself, a similar problem would exist. Cross-pollination may also be a problem at a different level. Winter rape is a Brassica species - Brassica napus. B. napus (n = 19) is genetically a hybrid between Brassica campestris (the Swede-turnip rape family; n = 10) and B. oleracea (the cabbage family; n = 9). While crosses between B. oleracea and B. napus are rare, crosses between B. campestris and B. napus do occur. Crosses between B. napus and B. chinensia (Chinese cabbage family), B. rapa (turnip), B. juncea (brown mustard) and B. nigra (black mustard) are also possible. What this means is that portions of the Willamette Valley vegetable seed industry and Brassica seed crop growers elsewhere in Oregon could be adversely affected by uncon- trolled rapeseed production. The Willamette Valley vegetable seed industry already has a self-regulating process in place to avoid contamination between cross-compatible seed crops. This process involves identification of seed field sites through a pinning process on maps housed in the Marion and Linn County Extension offices. Other seed producers voluntarily agree to avoid planting cross-compatible crops within the "pollination" zone of pinned fields. To avoid problems, a formal, state regulated pinning system may become necessary. European seed certifying agencies require that there be at least 400 meters (1/4 mile) between oil and fodder Brassica seed crops and 1,000 meters (3/5 mile) between vegetable Brassica crops. In Idaho, three mile and one mile separation distances from other oilseed rapes are suggested for seed stock and oilseed crops, respectively. Idaho, Oregon and Washington have enacted legislation to establish rapeseed production districts. In these districts, only one type of rape (industrial or edible) can be grown unless specific waivers are obtained. In some areas, rapeseed production is prohibited. Districts are successful in reducing cross-pollination problems between industrial and edible types. 2. Rapeseed harvest is not 100% efficient and substantial amounts of seed are lost during combining. Also, rapeseed produces some hard seed which can remain in the soil for at least five years, if not longer. Volunteer rape is going to be a problem. Volunteer rape is a concern to vegetable seed growers. Volunteer plants can grow in Brassica seed fields or radish seed fields and create problems due to cross-pollination and/or direct contamination of seed if volunteer plants go unnoticed and are harvested with the seed crop. The sugar beet seed industry is also concerned about vol- unteer plants as stem and pod pieces cannot be easily sepa- rated from beet seed. Foreign material tolerances for beet seed are low and rape contamination could lead to rejection of seed lots. 3. Disease carried by rapeseed is also a concern to vegetable and vegetable seed growers. Rape is susceptible to the diseases common to other Brassica species - Alternaria, Pythium, Sclerotinia, and Phoma. Incidence of Alternaria, Pythium, and Sclerotinia is not likely to increase as these diseases are already common in the Willamette Valley. Black Leg (Phoma), on the other hand, is less common, is seed borne, and could become more widespread. Disease in back-to-back rape crops is also a problem. The standard recommendation is that fields be out of rape for a three-to-four year period before planting back another rape crop. This rotation requirement may limit utility of the crop for some growers. 4. Storage and handling of rapeseed is a concern, especially where both industrial and edible crops are handled in the same facility. The two types of rapeseed can only be distinguished on the basis of chemical tests - outward ap- pearance is identical. Shippers and handlers will need to be alert for possible seed mixes. Shippers must also be wary of seed loss from uncovered trucks. Trucks hauling rapeseed should be covered to avoid scatter of seed along roadways. This listing is not intended to be a complete or final list. Its purpose is to inform and to alert interested persons to the potentials and problems of rapeseed production in Oregon. Additional information on rapeseed can be obtained from county extension offices across the state.