New canola hybrid could expand U.S. acreage

Since about 2014, canola acres in North America have been stuck around 23 to 24 million. Typically, farmers seed 21 to 22 million acres in Western Canada and another two to 2.5 million in the United States.

If things go according to plan for BASF, those acreage numbers may soon change.

In late June, the company introduced a new canola hybrid called InVigor Gold. It’s designed to perform in the hotter and drier regions of North America, such as the brown soil zone of southwestern Saskatchewan and in states like Montana, South Dakota and Kansas.

If InVigor Gold catches on with growers, it represents an opportunity to expand canola’s geographic footprint in North America.

“Absolutely, 100 per cent. That’s how we view it,” said Wade Stocker, BASF seeds and traits manager for canola.

The company unveiled its new canola hybrid at an event in Great Falls, Mont., underscoring its focus on pushing canola into non-traditional regions. Typically, Montana farmers plant 150,000 acres of canola, but this new hybrid could make sense for farmers in the state who are stuck in a wheat-fallow rotation.

“I think it’s an opportunity for those growers because they have minimal cropping options,” Stocker said from his office in Alberta.

“This is another crop they can add into their rotation.”

Looking beyond Montana, BASF believes there are three regions in North America where InVigor Gold could propel canola acres to new heights.

One is the northern U.S. Great Plains, which includes Montana, western North Dakota and South Dakota.

“The others would be the central Great Plains. Think of Kansas, maybe central or western Kansas … (where) there’s not a lot of cropping options available for some of those growers (except wheat),” Stocker said.

The third region is Canada’s brown soil zone, which is hotter and drier than other parts of the Prairies.

“This (InVigor Gold) is a crop that might … help reduce some of the concerns over environmental stresses … and give them (farmers) another option to expand, and I want to cautiously say, de-risk their canola,” Stocker said.

Farmers in the brown soil zone do grow canola, but yields are lower and less reliable. As an example, last year the average canola yield in most regions of Saskatchewan were 33 to 37 bushels per acre, but in the province’s southwest, the average yield was 22 bushels per acre, said the provincial crop report.

BASF trials of InVigor Gold, done from 2022-24, indicate that it out-performed other canola hybrids in the brown soil zone and in the northern U.S. Plains. Yields of InVigor Gold were, on average, eight per cent higher.

Most canola hybrids on the market are classified as Brassica napus, a species known as oilseed rape, or canola. InVigor Gold is different because the hybrid was developed using germplasm from Brassica juncea, a type of crucifer “known as the mustard family,” says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“Brassica juncea, being a close relative of Brassica napus, has some unique and some different attributes,” Stocker said.

Most canola hybrids are sensitive to temperatures above 28 C during the bloom period. The high temperatures can cause heat blast, where flowers are aborted before they form pods, thus reducing yield.

Brassica juncea is more tolerant of high temperatures at flowering, Stocker said.

“We’ve had a few years of difficult growing conditions … and hot, hot environments. This is where this type of technology has a role to play in offering growers some potential solutions.”

The new hybrid also reaches maturity and blooms about five to seven days earlier than most hybrids on the market, which could help the crop avoid the summer heat.

While it is different in some ways, BASF designed InVigor Gold so it comes with herbicide tolerance and the same oil and meal quality as commercial canola hybrids.

So, it is “projected to allow delivery to the same elevator and (same) processing with traditional canola,” BASF said in a news release.

Canadian growers aren’t expected to have access to the technology for several years.

InVigor Gold is anticipated to be available in the United States in 2027, pending regulatory approval, BASF says. In Canada, it will be available later in the 2020s or the early 2030s, pending regulatory approval.

The different timing comes down to “nuances” between the two countries, Stocker said.

A large portion of Canada’s canola crop is exported, so the canola industry will need market acceptance of InVigor Gold in markets such as Japan and China.

“Canada, we’re primarily an export driven country,” Stocker said.

“(The) U.S. is more domestically focused.”

There are other regulatory steps before InVigor Gold hits the market, but Stocker is excited about the future opportunities for canola. It could mean more acres and a larger industry in North America.

“Not very often, or almost never in a career, do you get to be part of these innovations and in essence launch a new crop,” he said.

“It’s still canola but in a way a new crop … particularly in some of the geographies like the central Great Plains, where they don’t grow canola.”

Tags: BASF, United States, Canada, yields, North America, crop, acres, hybrid, canola