In the midst of recent trade and tariff issues surrounding Canadian canola, especially amongst our key trading partners, China and the United States, I have heard many opinions on what farmers should and should not be doing. One comment that struck me was that ‘farmers should have anticipated these issues and simply not planted canola this year’. While it is true that market conditions and anticipated demand are factors in farmers’ decisions of what crops to plant, much more goes into these decisions. So what makes canola such an important crop for farmers in Western Canada? And why, despite the current market uncertainty, are farmers still choosing to grow it?
Crop Rotation
I’m sure most people have heard of the term “crop rotation”. Put simply, farmers typically rotate what crops they plant on a particular field every 2-4 years, perhaps wheat, then canola, followed by a year of lentils. But have you ever stopped to think about why they do this? Crop rotations are one of the key pillars of agricultural sustainability for many reasons, and canola is a staple crop in the majority of Prairie crop rotations. Not all crops grow well in all regions or climactic zones of the Prairies, but canola can be successfully grown across most of Saskatchewan.
Disease
One of the most important reasons farmers rotate their crops is to minimize disease pressure, especially for soil-borne pathogens. Different crops host different diseases. For example, one of the most problematic soil-borne diseases in Western Canadian canola crops is clubroot. While clubroot spores can survive in the soil for up to 15-20 years, the number of viable or active spores will decrease significantly after a 2-3 year break from canola being planted on the field. For wheat and other cereal crops, fusarium head blight is one of the most problematic diseases, and in pulse crops such as lentils, Ascochyta blight is a problematic disease. However, a minimum of two years between planting susceptible crops can help minimize the risk and severity of infestation of both of these diseases. Thus, including three or more crops in a rotation can significantly help to alleviate disease pressure from year-to-year.
Weed Control
Weed pressure and control also vary between crop types. Crops bred with glyphosate or glufosinate-tolerant traits, such as most canola varieties in Western Canada, allow for efficient and cost-effective weed control. This not only limits disease pressure in the current year, but also minimizes seed production of weeds, helping to decrease weed pressure for subsequent crops. When considering planting another crop instead of canola the following year, such as lentils, you have to consider that they are more susceptible to weed pressure. Not only are lentils naturally poor competitors due to their short stature and thin canopy, but there are limited herbicide options for weed control in lentils. Furthermore, when stressed, lentil crops can be easily damaged by herbicide applications. Therefore, effective weed control before planting lentils is extremely important in achieving target yields.
Soil Health
Each crop a farmer chooses to plant impacts soil health differently. Pulses, such as peas and lentils, are unique in that they fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable for plants through a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers in subsequent crops. The breakdown of cereal crop residue in the soil contributes to increased soil organic matter levels. As previously discussed, canola crops allow for effective weed control and minimize the need for soil-disturbing weed control such as tillage, which is not optimal for retaining organic material or soil health. Additional soil health benefits of canola crops include breaking up dense soil, improved water infiltration, and absorption of nutrients deep in the soil that are not available to other crops due to canola’s long taproot. Thus, rotating crop types ensures that all of a farmer’s fields receive these benefits within a rotation.
Diversifying Risk
Farmers choose to plant multiple crops each year as a risk management and diversification strategy as opposed to farming every field as a monoculture crop. This is partly because farming is a risky business, given that a producer can control inputs but not the environment around them that impacts the growing season. Weather conditions impact crops differently. Diversifying which crops you plant helps to minimize the risk of weather-related crop failure on all of your acres. More drought-tolerant crops, such as lentils, may do well in drier years, while cool, moisture-loving crops such as canola will do better in a year with a milder and wetter summer. Weather also impacts the pressure of disease, soil health, and pests; therefore, having a rotation of diverse crops across your land is a means of reducing risk from any one risk.
Market prices are extremely variable over the years and between crop types as well. If a farmer chose to seed the majority of their acres to cereal crops in a year where the cereal market faced record low prices, but the canola price was favourable, they would face profitability issues. Planting portions of land to different crops ensures that you can capture at least a portion of promising markets for your production, especially considering it is nearly impossible when planning crop rotations to predict which prices will be favourable.
Farm Logistics
Simple farm logistics also play a role in planting decisions. For example, bin space at harvest time must be considered. Cereal crops, such as barley and wheat, typically yield more bushels of grain than canola or pulse crops. If a farmer chose to only plant cereal crops one year, they would have to have adequate bin storage or the ability to purchase more. Alternatively, they would need to have the infrastructure to put their grain in bags or have a contract in place to sell a larger portion of the grain at harvest time if they didn’t have the space to store it. Not all of these are viable options for all farms, as they require planning, capital, and adequate time to carry out. Planting a variety of crop types, including lower-yielding but typically higher-priced crops like pulses or canola, helps farmers to manage storage logistics each year.
Harvest timing is another consideration. Crops have different days-to-maturity, or the average length of time from planting until they are ready to harvest. Ideally, this allows for each crop planted by a farmer to be ready to harvest at different times, improving the efficiency and practicality of harvest time. On the Prairies, canola is often harvested last, partly due to its slightly longer average days-to-maturity as well as the lower risk of rain or other unfavourable weather impacting canola quality compared to cereals and pulses. If all fields are ready to harvest at the same time, it can get tricky to get the crop off at the correct maturity and moisture content, especially when unfavorable weather delays harvest of some fields.
Why Canola?
The question remains: in the midst of the trade wars with China and the U.S., and Canadian canola taking a hit as a result, why will Prairie farmers continue to plant canola? First of all, it is a staple crop in most crop rotations to help minimize year-to-year disease and weed pressure and to improve soil health conditions. It is part of a diversification strategy to manage weather and market risks. Canola is also part of most farms’ logistical management strategy in terms of harvest timing and bin space. While the prices of canola may be lower next year, the benefits of growing it likely outweigh the possible profit decline. Perhaps farmers might reduce some of their acres of canola in the coming year, but in terms of rotations, it plays an important role in farmers’ long-term plans and profits.
We chose to plant canola on our farm this year despite the market uncertainty. It is embedded in our farm’s profitability and sustainability goals and we trust that federal and provincial governments are working together to prioritize these issues for Canadian canola growers.
Also, who doesn’t love driving by gloriously yellow canola fields in July?
