No more independent canola variety trials

The Prairie Canola Variety Trials have been cancelled for this year. Several Canadian canola seed developers are refusing to enter their varieties. When you look at the provincial seed guides, the information for comparing all the canola varieties comes from the Prairie Canola Variety Trials administered by the Canola Council of Canada. Call me a skeptic, but I like to see this third party evaluation. If you listen to the companies, they all claim to have the top-yielding varieties. The organizations representing canola growers in all three provinces are expressing their disappointment that this sole source of independent, science-based, third party canola variety comparisons will not be going ahead. Some of the companies have raised concern about how the trials are conducted – things such as the size of the replicated plots. There were discussions over the winter to address the concerns, but no solution was reached. Now, a number of participants have pulled out of the program all at once. It’s a troubling development. I’m Kevin Hursh.