Canola Tour

University of Idaho Extension and the Pacific Northwest Canola Association (PNWCA) are again collaborating on a tour highlighting research, cultivars under development and best management practices pertaining to the state’s important canola industry.

This year’s tour will meet at 7:30 a.m. June 11 at the Craigmont Legion Hall, 31 E. Lorahama St., for breakfast, covered by PNWCA and the Idaho Oilseed Commission.

Extension Educator Klae O’Brien, Lewis County, and Karen Sowers, PNWCA executive director, organized the first Prairie Area Winter Canola Tour last May, with help from other PNWCA members. The inaugural tour drew 58 participants, representing 34,000 canola acres throughout the Northwest, and made stops at the U of I winter canola variety trial and an industry-sponsored winter canola variety trial.

“While many farmers are adding canola into their crop rotations, it is a relatively new crop that requires very specific management practices,” O’Brien said. “With common stakeholders and program outcomes, UI Extension and PNWCA saw an opportunity to work together and provide one immersive educational experience for canola farmers and other interested individuals.”

O’Brien and Sowers hope to build upon their initial success with this year’s tour, which will visit canola fields in full bloom. They encourage participants to register online or call the UI Extension, Lewis County office at 208-937-2311 prior to the event. There is no fee to participate, as sponsors cover tour costs.

“This collaboration is huge. It’s a way to reach a lot more people,” Sowers said.

Commodity market updates and discussions about canola quality factors and insurance issues are scheduled following breakfast. Participants will then leave on a bus tour that will make its first stop at Clearwater Farms in Craigmont, where U of I has a pair of canola trials underway, in partnership with the commercial farm. U of I Brassica breeder Kamal Khadka will showcase his winter canola variety trials and present data from his 2024 trials. Kurtis Schroeder, a UI Extension specialist of cropping systems agronomy, will discuss his canola fungicide trials.

Khadka, who joined the university in March 2023, breeds canola, industrial rapeseed and mustard cultivars. Among the hundreds of lines in his canola breeding program, Khadka is evaluating more than 40 advanced breeding lines from U of I’s program, divided about evenly between spring and winter lines. Khada anticipates releasing two new varieties within the next two years — a winter canola cultivar and a winter rapeseed cultivar, both selected from the crosses made by U of I’s prior canola breeder, Jack Brown.

Khadka is emphasizing a short list of key traits in his canola breeding efforts. He’s started making crosses in spring canola with the goal of improving performance in acidic soils, as soil acidity is an increasing problem in parts of northern Idaho. He also intends to develop acidic soil-tolerant winter canola lines. Furthermore, Khadka plans to incorporate improved drought tolerance into spring lines, and he’ll prioritize cold hardiness in winter lines.

“In 2023, when I started here, there was a lot of winter damage in winter canola. In some fields I could see almost 50% winter kill,” Khadka said.

Schroeder’s trials have focused on the ideal timing for winter canola farmers to apply fungicides to manage blackleg. Schroeder has confirmed fungicides significantly reduce disease incidence of blackleg when applied either in the spring or in the fall, but spring applications were more effective. The greatest reduction in his trials came from applying fungicides both during the spring and fall, but applying during both seasons may not be cost effective. Schroeder has also been trapping spores to determine when the fungus is active and fungicide applications will be most effective. Blackleg is among the most destructive diseases affecting canola globally but has yet to emerge as a major threat in the Northwest.

The tour will make its second stop at 1890 Ag in Cottonwood, where participants will see a private canola trial involving varieties from Rubisco Seeds, based in Kentucky. During the Cottonwood stop, officials from Terraplex Northwest will demonstrate the use of drones for spraying crops and taking aerial imagery. David Crowder, an associate professor with Washington State University’s Department of Entomology, and one of his graduate students will present about pest control, and Infinity Agriculture representatives will demonstrate how to sweep a field for both beneficial bugs and insect pests.

In 2024, Idaho ranked fifth nationally in canola production, with 93,652 acres, up 6% from the prior year. Most of the state’s production occurs in the Palouse region of Latah, Nez Perce and Lewis counties. Idaho canola acreage made an even greater jump in 2023, when it increased by 43% from the prior growing season. Southeast Idaho is a burgeoning production area, where canola is raised at the highest elevations in the U.S., both under irrigation and on dry land. The Northwest is the sole U.S. region that produces both winter and spring canola.

Most of the region’s canola crop is crushed for culinary oil at a facility in Warden, Washington, and the byproduct is hotly demanded as a high-value cattle feed additive.

For many Idaho farms, canola provides an important option to deviate from a wheat-fallow crop rotation, thereby breaking disease cycles and enabling producers to alternate pesticide chemistries.

“Different research has clearly proven that having canola in a crop rotation is going to help with better soil health and better sustainability, and also some studies show it increases the yield of the following crops,” Khadka said.

Sponsors of the event include UI Extension, PNWCA, Idaho Oilseed Commission, Bell Equipment, Rubisco Seeds, Columbia Grain, HUB International, Infinity, Agri-Service, Northpine Aa Equipment and Precision Bio.

Published in Catching Up with CALS