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Canola background
By area grown, canola is now Australia’s third largest winter crop. It is usually planted between March and June depending on factors such as rainfall, variety and region. Sowing a crop too early or too late can result in yield reductions related to factors such as frost (too early) or spring rains and heat stress at the time of cultivation (too late).
Canola crop management
before planting and throughout the growing season aims to reduce the impact of stresses such as weeds, pests, poor nutrition and disease on the crop. Inputs may be required to minimise the impacts of these undesirable factors. For example canola is a small seedling and does not compete well with weeds, so weed control at the early stages of growth is important.
Canola seed progressively ripens during spring and at this stage, the seed pods are vulnerable to shattering by the wind. To minimise seed loss, canola is wind-rowed approximately 10 days before the seed is fully mature. Wind-rowing involves the mechanical cutting of canola plants near the base of the stem and laying them on the stalk residue so that drying of the pods can continue without the risk of shattering. Wind-rowing is usually undertaken by contractors. After the pods have fully dried a conventional harvester is used to thrash the seed from the pods. Harvest is undertaken in Spring.
GM canola 2008
Bayer CropScience has indicated that they do not have commercial quantities of seed of the InVigor Hybrid variety available for 2008, but they will continue with their breeding program which will include trials in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
The 2008 planting season is a limited commercial release with less than two per cent of the Australian canola crop being sown to Roundup Ready® canola, and only 150-200 growers involved.
Monsanto has licensed its Roundup Ready technology - to NuSeed (Nufarm), Pioneer Hi-Bred Australia and Pacific Seeds. These companies will offer seed to growers in the 2008 season in both Victoria and New South Wales.
Progress to date
March
April
May
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- Over 300 farmers in NSW and Victoria attend GM canola accreditation courses.
- GM canola seed is delivered to growers in NSW and Victoria.
- The first GM canola crops are planted.
- Plantings continue.
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June
July
August |
- A total of 450 growers and consultants have undertaken GM canola accreditation courses.
- All of the seed from the three seed companies - Nuseed, Pacific Seeds and Pioneer - has been allocated and around 110 growers have planted GM canola in NSW and Victoria. Click here to see how much GM canola has been planted in each Shire of New South Wales and Victoria.
- The average amount of GM canola planted per farm is 88 hectares.
- Farmers in some areas are still waiting for rain to ensure a successful production year.
- Field days will be held as the season progresses.
 GM canola, August 2008, NSW |
September
October
November |
- The GM canola is harvested. A storage and handling brief regarding this end of the canola process is available here
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| GM canola field day, October 2008, Wallendbeen NSW |
Ready Set Harvest – 6 November 2008
The first Roundup Ready ®canola crop has been delivered into a silo in NSW. Harvest results are promising despite the very dry season.
Graham Barron of Parkes in NSW delivered his first GM canola crop this week and is impressed by the results and with the supply chain processes. “There was no problem delivering the grain into the silo site and everyone knew what to do with the GM canola. It’s a very secure system right through the supply chain.”
 While still too early for full and final results, he said, “The crop has held up well and I’m pleased with the yield despite the abnormally dry conditions. In comparison the Roundup Ready canola from NuSeed has performed better than the conventional canola I grew this year.”
Mr Barron plans to plant more GM canola next year. “This will become the norm for us rather than the exception. Roundup Ready canola offers growers a choice of systems to use on the farm. The technology is long overdue in Australia and it represents another tool for growers to use in their toolkit,” he said.
“Planting Roundup Ready canola makes good economic and sustainable sense. It helps us to be more competitive internationally and it lowers the use of other chemicals that have strong environmental impacts like atrazine. It’s cleaner, greener technology.”
This is the first crop of Roundup Ready canola since the moratoriums were lifted in NSW and Victoria early this year. Growers have been reporting excellent vigour and robust Roundup Ready canola plants throughout the 2008 season. Hundreds of growers, agronomists and industry stakeholders attended Field Trials and Field Days across both states as the industry prepared growers and many other stakeholders for the first harvest delivery.
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| The GM canola is windrowed, harvested and delivered |
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In its March Australian Commodities report, ABARE predicted that the area sown to canola in 2008-2009 would increase by 10 per cent, however this would depend on the timing and amount of autumn rainfall.
This section will be updated regularly to allow you to see how Australia’s first GM canola crop is progressing.
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