Temple, Oklahoma, March 3, 2009 -- "Winter canola is a critical crop for the future of plains wheat growers," Kyle McIntyre says.

Twenty-seven years old, the Temple, Oklahoma, farmer started growing winter canola four years ago. Along with his brother, Brent, and father, Pat, the family had been searching for a crop to rotate with winter wheat.

"Canola provided an option where we can use the same planting and harvesting equipment as we do with wheat," Kyle said. "That is a big help considering the cost of new and good used farming equipment.
"When you figure canola has a better price paid farmers than wheat and there is an active market to buy it here in Oklahoma, that makes the crop even more attractive."

Kyle is talking about canola contracts offered by the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill in Oklahoma City and the close proximity of grain terminals where harvested seed can be taken.

Other factors moved the McIntyre family to start growing winter canola, Kyle said.

"Winter wheat is a staple for plains farmers," he said. "Wheat is now grown continuously in all of the plains states. Following this routine for decades brought in several problems that accompany continuous wheat.

"There is the Hessian fly that feeds on the plant," he said. "And there are a lot of weeds that grow in wheat fields. If you grow wheat, you have seeds from cheat, ryegrass, wnter grass, rescue grass or wild oats. When you sell your harvested wheat, if there are any of these weed seeds in your wheat, the price you get will be reduced."

Planting winter canola  after wheat will stop these weeds from coming back year after year, he said. Planting canola will help farmers get away from using expensive herbicides to control these weeds, too. Winter canola plants have a large tap root that leaves the soil in good shape for replanting in notill fields, Kyle said.

Most of the new winter canola varieties are Roundup Ready, meaning they are tolerant to herbicide weed control measures farmers may use. Kyle said his best canola right now is DKW 4110, a Roundup Ready variety.

"It is a winter hardy variety," he said. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but so far the variety has demonstrated great drought tolerance, too.
Kyle is convinced winter canola offers the best answer for wheat farmers to find a new crop they can rotate with wheat that has a real, active market, places to dump grain and where the seed can be processed and that has demonstrated weed cleanup following wheat.

"I can even see just growing canola by itself," he said. "Canola responds to good management. This year will give me some better answers about its yielding potential in long-term dry conditions."

Kyle was introduced to wnter canola production by Alan Mindemann,  an Apache, Oklahoma, farmer who is certified by the American Society of Agronomists as a crop advisor.

"I met Alan, rode around with him, listened to his presentations at several seminars and I saw the results of what properly management winter canola can do by watchng him," Kyle said. "Alan is my mentor. We talk frequently about our crops and how to better management them."

Mindemann also professes the advantages offered by growing winter canola.

"Growing winter canola is a serious, hands-on, fulltime job," Mindemann said. "From the time you plant it until you successfully harvest it, you must be aware of several important factors to get the job done right."

Harvesting winter canola makes up most of the learning portion of growing it, Mindemann said.

Farmers like Mindemann and McIntyre are looking at a completely new way to prepare mature canola for harvest, he said.

Mindemann and McIntyre, along with several other canola growers, will be using a "pusher" to place the mature crop into a windrow before harvesting.

This is a bar the same length as a regular grain combine header that has an oval surface with sickles at each end of the bar. The sickles mark off a typical 36 foot swath and the oval bar presses the stalks down, forming a windrow.

After windrows are forrmed with the maturing canola plants, combines are used to harvest the grain which consists of small, round shiny seeds.

Canola seed is primarily used to make high-quality cooking oil.

A Texas A&M  Extension nutrition specialist, Dr. Sharon Robinson, said, "Canola has the lowest levels of saturated fat among cooking oils and no transfat. It is rich in Vitamin E and essential fatty acids, nutrients needed to help maintain human health. It has more Vitamin E than peanut, corn or olive oil."

The oil has other uses and the meal can be used for livestock feed.
Among other farmers growing winter canola this year are Phil Whitworth and Jerry Stewart, Frederick, Ok., Jimmy and Kevin Kinder, Walters, Ok., Scott Neufield, Fairview, Ok. and Jerry Hedges, Vici, Ok.

Farmers are encouraged to find out more about growing wnter canola. Just contact the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill at 1-405-232-7555 and ask for Gene Neuens or Brandon Winters  They can be emailed at bwinters@producerscoop.net  and cscneuens@yahoo.com.