FARGO, N.D. — The canola industry will be seeking increased federal research funding in 2010 to capitalize on industry potential.
Barry Coleman, executive director of the Northern Canola Growers, says primary funding is federal, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture-North Central Canola Research Program.
The northern region has accounted for $210,000 of the funding as a part of the national investment of $790,000, through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. That funding must be acquired annually, so the canola industry is looking for permanent funds to pay for canola breeders and technicians. When federal funds fall short, the canola growers often dig down to pick up the slack, he says.
BRIGHT FUTURE
The potentials for canola studies look bright, says Coleman, who attended a canola research forum Oct. 29 at the North Dakota State University Foundation in Fargo.
Among other things, he says canola farmers are coming off a super production year. Farmers are seeing that wet, cold conditions early in a growing season aren’t good for canola.
“We’re seeing that farmers are not afraid to plant later and later because they’re getting great yields,” Coleman says of canola growers.
He says this year’s average yield likely exceeded 2,000 pounds per acre, a significant increase from the 1,630-pound record average.
NDSU breeders talked about potential in new canola lines, which could boost yields by up to 25 percent, if realized. These open pollinated lines require back-crossing, but eventually could be available commercially as soon as 2011 or 2012.
Private genetic partners, including Monsanto, have been cooperative in sharing material, Coleman says. There are potentials for NDSU to have its own varieties, not connected to Monsanto.
MEDICAL RESEARCH
Among the research under way that could help canola demand include a breast cancer study. Lawrence Mabasa, an animal science graduate student from South Africa, discussed this at the forum. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-North Central Canola Research Program funded an in vivo rat study, Mabasa says. The goal was to determine whether there is a connection between canola oil for an improved immune response, and reduced breast cancer — “whether at the responsive stage or at the resistance stage.”
Based on positive rat responses in 2008, the program was provided a second year of funding to determine which exposure to canola oil creates the effects. Another study is working to determine whether canola oil makes the anti-cancer drug Tomoxifen more effective in cancer studies with nude mice and whether canola oil has any effect on the growth of drug-resistant breast cancer.
While there has been a positive response in laboratory rats, more research would be needed to determine whether there is a human response and — if so — how much canola oil would be needed. Mabasa notes potential “strong financial implications” if the studies pan out.
Other forum speakers:
- Judith Espinoza, in NDSU’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, says canola oil can be used in epoxies, but it isn’t clear that the oil has any advantage over soybean oil. The resins could be used to create lightweight exterior shields for machinery, among other things.
- Janet Knodel, NDSU Extension Service entomologist, says late summer 2009 surveys of fall flea beetle showed lower levels than a year previous. She says diamondback moths have a potential to be a problem because they’re migratory. One site in northeast Barnes County, N.D., had 400-plus moths in traps during the season.
- Ezra Aberle, NDSU researcher in Carrington, says flower duration and physiological maturity was one day longer and later in the no-till plots than in tilled plots in a study that compares no-till, minimum tillage and conventional tillage. He says canola yield wasn’t affected by the tillage system. He says manure is an excellent fertilizer source, where available, and that soybeans are an acceptable prior crop for canola.
Tags: canola, funding, daily updates
RSS Feeds