Rod and Shelley Bradshaw

Location: Innisfail, Alberta

Farm: 800 acres

It would seem strange not to grow canola today on our farm. It seems like only a few years ago that a University of Manitoba Aggie (1971) came to our farm, extolled the virtues of Treflan and how it could help grow a cleaner crop of then rapeseed. Times have changed from working the ground seven or eight passes getting the soil bed prepared for that delicate seed, till today when it seems excessive if we make more than one pass to seed our canola.

Varieties have come and gone, and of course today we don’t even think about growing Polish ( Brassica rapa) varieties. Today we have the luxury of Liberty Link, Roundup Ready or Clearfield varieties that allow for many options in weed control. The pace at which new varieties keep coming, it is not unreasonable to expect that we will start reaching into the seventies in yield without having to try too hard.

Along with the chemical tolerance also comes other agronomic characteristics such as standability, disease resistance and harvestability, although it is still possible to plug the cylinder on the combine now and again.

The real benefit we have seen is the quality of the oils that we produce and their benefits to human and animal health. We have come a long way from the original oilseed rape that was only a good machine lubricant. With continuing research, we will continue to see not only advances in oil that contribute to human health but the possibility to use it in many more applications in all aspects of our modern economy.

We have had some visionaries who drove the canola industry in western Canada, and we need to thank them and keep growing canola as it truly is a “Cinderella” story in western Canadian agriculture.

We grow canola in a 1-in-4 rotation with wheat, barley, peas, hay, carrots and assorted cole crops such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. We have been growing around 200 acres in rotation, with yields in the low sixties average over the past three years.

Canola really came into favour in our rotation when Lontrel came along, as we could grow it on fields where thistles had become a problem and do a nice job of cleaning up those fields. When the Roundup Ready varieties came along it meant that we were unlimited in our rotations in which fields we could grow canola.

Having worked for Elanco as a summer student (1976), and later as a marketing representative for Monsanto (1980-1982), and having watched the evolution of the local Bayer research farm, I have a great appreciation for the partnerships that we have in this industry and with those, we will all reap benefits so that we can pass the torch to the next generation.