Agricultural News
Farmers Need to Keep Several Things In Mind as Canola Planting Draws Closer, Sanders Says
Thu, 22 Aug 2013 12:58:06 CDT
As the canola planting window draws closer, Heath Sanders, the canola field specialist with the Great Plains Canola Association says there are a few things producers need to keep in mind. He spoke recently with Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays. (You can listen to their full conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story. Sanders will also appear on this weekend's "In the Field" segment about 6:40 a.m. Saturday on News 9.)
Sanders said as farmers contemplate planting the 2014 crop in just a few weeks, they need to get their canola insurance agreements turned in soon. The deadline to have all the paper work completed is August 31st. "I believe that's priority No. 1," he said.
"Priority No. 2 is to go ahead and get their seed booked and ordered and get that seed to their farm. I think there's going to be certain varieties , different cultivars and things, that may run short. I don't think we're going to run out of seed, but if you want to be able to get what you want to plant, then you need to go ahead and get that done right now."
He said seedbed preparations are ongoing and consideration needs to be made by those using a no-till system to control crop residue to ensure good seed-to-soil contact.
In his new position with the GPCA, Sanders says he will be out in the field helping farmers with education and assistance to grow canola.
He said that everyone involved in the winter canola industry learned a lot last year given the adverse weather conditions. They main thing they learned, he said, was how well winter canola and winter wheat go together in this area.
"We're in much better shape right now than we were a year ago. We had a lot of farmers plant canola. We got just enough rain in some areas to get it up and get it going. In other areas it either came up and ran out of water or it didn't have enough time
"I think farmers were just really surprised that they had something to harvest this year. I think that goes with the wheat as well. Producers were very pleased with the way their yields turned out. I had numerous calls on 'My stands are not very good, Heath. I'm really looking at letting this go.' And I said, 'Don't throw in the towel, yet.' And those producers that called, you know, I talked to the other day and they said, 'It made really good.' We had some canola that made in the thirties that they didn't even think would have made ten bushels."
Sanders said he expects to see more acres planted this year than the 300,000 planted on the Great Plains last year, but he doesn't know if there is enough seed to plant the half-a-million acres that some have predicted. He said there is growing interest in planting canola in northeastern Colorado as the popularity of this crop continues to intensify.
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