FIELD PRODUCTION OF WINTER CANOLA AND SUNFLOWERS IN THE MIDWESTERN US IN RESPONSE TO CHANGING DEMANDS IN THE VEGETABLE OIL MARKETS.

 Transitions in the vegetable oil industry over the last several years have motivated the agricultural industry to re-focus on the increased volume demands and changes in specification requirements within the global vegetable oil market. Two major external factors are driving these transitions, namely, human health concerns with dietary trans fats and an explosion in global demand for vegetable oil as a feedstock for bio diesel and various other industrial applications as substitute for mineral oils refined from crude petroleum oil.

            Currently, three plant species are primarily cultivated by farmers in North America for subsequent processing in the oilseed crushing industry, namely, soybean, canola and sunflower. These plants exhibit significant variation in the fatty acid composition of their oils resulting mainly from inter species botanical differences, and to a lesser extent selective plant breeding programs. These variations result in different functional properties between oil species; an aspect which is of particular significance to the food oil processing industry as it influences the presence of trans fats in finished vegetable oil products. The fatty acid profile differences are of less significance to the renewable fuel industry, however, yields of oil recovered per acre from these crops are important given that the use of vegetable oils as feedstock for liquid transport fuels has dramatically increased globally.

            To meet the new demands of the vegetable oil market it is entirely appropriate and necessary that the United States agricultural industry increase production of crops with characteristics that meet the quality and volume requirements of the market. 

            The United States soybean industry, which is the mainstay of domestic vegetable oil production, has made huge strides in recent years by improving national soybean yields, developing soybean genetics capable of expanding the northern boundaries of  soy bean acreages and by developing lines with oil specifications  more compatible with market demands for trans fat levels; e.g. low-linolenic soybeans.

Despite these advances in soybean technology, the inherently low seed oil content in soybean of 18 to 22% relative to 38 to 45% for canola and sunflower create the opportunity for increasing the acreages of these crops. This increase is further supported by the difficulty in achieving rapid adaptation of commercially viable low linolenic soybean lines across the entire soybean region of the United States, thus, further creating a need for canola and sunflower oilseeds and their resultant trans fat free oils

            Canola is currently grown as a field crop in the United States but is largely confined to the Northern states of Minnesota and North Dakota. Canola grown in this region is considered a spring type, planted in April/May and harvested in July/August. Spring canola does not tolerate hot temperatures (above 90 degrees F.) during pollination and seed fill and is thus unsuitable for cultivation in large parts of the central mid western United States.

            To counter excessively high temperatures at these critical growth stages it is necessary for the canola plant to move through these growth stages during cooler spring time weather. This can be achieved by planting “winter canola” which is seeded in the fall and develops into a prostrate rosette by early winter. The canola plant then enters dormancy which allows it to survive the cold temperatures of winter. Growth resumes in the spring as soil temperatures warm above 40 degrees F. and the canola will develop and reach maturity in early June before experiencing prolonged high summer temperatures.

            There are two principle determinants of successful winter canola production, the first being adaptable genetics and the second being crop husbandry techniques adapted and refined for the central Midwest. Recent years have seen enormous strides with genetic selection. This work has been accelerated by a screening program facilitated by Kansas State University where currently available genetics from around the world are evaluated at trial sites across the United States. This work is supervised by Dr. Michael J. Stamm, who, in addition, also heads up a very successful joint winter canola breeding program between Kansas State University and Okalahoma State University. This national screening evaluates conventional open pollinated lines and genetics resulting from winter canola hybridization techniques and has facilitated identification of genetics that can be grown successfully in commercial farming settings throughout the Midwest. The knowledge base with regard to winter canola crop husbandry techniques adapted and refined for the Midwest is however, less well developed and it is plausible and objective to comment that this reality is a key reason why several regional attempts to develop the winter canola crop have failed completely or not developed at a pace to support a sustained regional processing industry.

            The production of sunflower in the United States has been confined to drier regions of the central and northern plains. However, increased demand for sunflower oil with the resultant increase in farm revenues arising from this crop has encouraged growers in non-traditional sunflower regions to consider the crop as part of their cropping programs. Sunflower is a native crop to the United States and is well adapted to a wide area of the country. Sunflower is a robust crop and can withstand heat and moisture stress conditions that commonly occur across cropping regions of the United States in summertime. The fact that sunflower can be planted in the early summer following wheat harvest permits farmers to “double crop” sunflower in the one season in the central and southern United States. This practice permits the farmer to have two harvests from the same field in that calendar year. While this practice is common in the central plains its adaptation in the eastern Midwest wheat belt has been limited to date as soybean has traditionally taken this rotational “double crop” slot. Thus, as with winter canola the adaptation of “double crop” sunflower in this region requires correct selection of sunflower hybrids and crop husbandry techniques adapted to the region if the crop is to become commercially viable.

            In the 5 state region of Southern Illinois, South East Missouri, Northern Tennessee, Southern Indiana and Kentucky, Miles Farm Supply headquartered in Owensboro Kentucky is one such agribusiness that have committed their resources to developing both these crops. Drawing from previous experiences with canola, both locally and from a European perspective and from collaboration with Kansas State University and the University of Kentucky a host site for the US Winter Canola National trials has been developed in Southern Kentucky. Commercial acreages of canola were placed with selected growers in the fall of 2006 to evaluate regional production challenges. The fall and winter of 2006 were challenging for the winter canola crop with excessively high rainfall in the early fall followed by extreme temperature swings during winter which culminated with a 100 year historic freeze event in early April which coincidentally killed or severely damaged a lot of winter wheat in the area. Several commercial fields of winter canola, or more appropriately portions of these fields, were lost due to these climatic conditions; these losses have all been related to issues associated with severe water logging and interactions of small canola plants with previous crop residues.  However, for the most part, commercial winter canola crops survived in all five states. Yields from these commercial fields were above expectations and delivered acceptable returns to growers. Quality was within US Number 1 Canola specifications. A copy of results from 2007 small plot research can be viewed in Figure 1. Plans to significantly expand the area under winter canola in the region are currently underway for 2007/2008 crop with an anticipated area of 6000 to 7000 acres. In addition to the states previously mentioned Miles Farm Supply has extended the geography of this commercial project to Northern Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

            The development of commercial sunflower acres within this 5 state region has been limited. Commercial acreage was attempted in Kentucky in the late 70’s but the seed genetics available were poorly adapted and when exposed to the heat and humidity of this region grew excessively tall and fell over.

            The identification of Asian Soy Rust in the United States in 2004 and its potential threat to double crop soybeans in the Eastern Winter Wheat region of the Midwest prompted Miles Farm Supply to engage in research to find other crops that could be double cropped successfully following winter wheat harvest. Sunflower was identified as having potential in this cropping sequence. The issues of trans fats and increased oil demand, discussed previously, further underscored sunflower in this application. Two years of screening have been utilized to select hybrids which were entered into pilot scale commercial acreage in 2007 with an anticipated harvest in October 2007. Results of this work are due to be posted on this site soon.

             In summary, primary objectives of the winter canola and sunflower endeavors is to provide a base for the selection of adaptable seed genetics and to re-define commercial crop husbandry techniques. This work is being preformed against a backdrop of a changing climatic cycle which in itself challenges the limitations and boundaries of domesticated plant species within a continental type climate. The achievement of these objectives is designed to build confidence in commercial winter canola and sunflower production in the region as a prerequisite for establishing a local crushing operation to process these oil seeds into high quality vegetable oil for the food and renewable fuel industries.

For more information on these crops please contact Brian Caldbeck