With the price of canola near rock bottom, as are most of the commodity prices, many farmers have been opting out of this crop because of the high input costs associated with it and are often replacing it with a cereal. In addition, the rise in wheat prices is another factor causing producers to think about replacing canola with wheat. Granted, the input costs of canola are relatively high, but producers should not be too quick to replace canola in their rotation.
The chart illustrates a 4-year cereal/broadleaf rotation. As Ken Sapsford described in a previous edition of this newsletter, there are advantages to a cereal-oilseed-cereal-pulse rotation. Annual and volunteer weeds are easier to control i.e.) controlling broadleaf weeds in cereal crops and grassy weeds in broadleaf crops. Crop diseases are reduced due to the 4-year rotation. Crop residues are easy to manage since there is a low residue crop between a high residue crop. Finally, soil fertility is enhanced with this rotation.
There are some factors that should be considered before dropping canola from the rotation. First of all, research indicates that the yield and quality of a cereal on canola stubble will generally be higher than a cereal on cereal stubble. In addition, by replacing canola with wheat, it means you will have a back to back wheat-wheat in the rotation. By doing so, the likelyhood of getting high protein is much less than if wheat was on even canola stubble.
Canola is also a strong competitor with weeds once it bolts. If using a herbicide tolerant canola variety, a very wide spectrum of weeds can be controlled. If perennial weeds are present, a pre-harvest application of Roundup in the wheat crop the year prior to the canola can be effective in controlling these weeds. The way this rotation sequence is set up, it allows for a post-harvest application of Roundup in the canola the year following wheat if perennials are still present. A herbicide tolerant variety also allows the option of fall seeding. Fall and early spring seeding of canola have certain advantages for reducing risk in most areas of the province, although the reasons may be different for each region. In the Brown and Dark Brown Soil Zones, these reasons may be that it allows the crop to establish when there is soil moisture available and to increase the odds of maximizing flowering before the major heat period. For the parkland areas, the advantages may be that it increases the chance that the canola will be harvested before a frost. Fall seeded canola also spreads out the workload at seeding. Many producers spread out their risk of growing canola by dividing up their canola acres into a percentage seeded in the fall and/or early spring and the remainder at the traditional spring seeding time. The rotation chart illustrates this strategy.
But what about the poor price of canola? Well, before switching canola in the rotation for wheat, let's look at some of the economics of canola versus wheat. To compare costs and returns of wheat and canola, there are some basics that we can compare: seed cost, herbicide costs and fertilizer. For this exercise, I am using inputs that would be used in a continuously cropped direct seeding system in the Brown Soil Zone.
The Roundup Ready and CLEARFIELD system canola (SMART ) varieties are using a 6 lb/ac seeding rate while the Liberty Link variety is at 5 lbs/ac. The seeding rate for the wheat is 1.25 bu/ac. The fertilizer used for the canola is a blend that contains 50 lbs/ac N, 20 lbs/ac P, and 10 lbs/ac S. The fertilizer for wheat was 50 lb/ac N and 25 lb/ac P using 34-17-0.
| Canola |
Fall seeded:
RU Ready variety @ $3.95/lb* TUA Fertilizer In-crop - Roundup - 1 application Total cost |
$23.70/ac
$15.00 $23.90 $4.10 $66.70/ac |
|
Early spring seeded & Normal spring seeded:
RU Ready Variety @ $2.50/lb TUA Fertilizer In-crop - Roundup - 2 applications Total cost |
$15.00/ac
$15.00 $23.90 $8.20 $62.10/ac |
|
|
CLEARFIELD canola variety @ $2.50/lb** Roundup burnoff
Fertilizer In-crop - Odyssey Total costs |
$15.00/ac
$4.10 $23.90 $25.50 $68.50/ac |
|
| Liberty Link canola variety - 5lbs/ac @ $3.75/lb** Roundup burnoff Fertilizer In-crop - Liberty Total costs |
$18.75/ac
$4.10 $23.90 $23.00 $69.75/ac |
|
| Wheat: | Certified seed 1.25 bu/ac @$8.00/ac Burnoff Fertilizer In-crop Total costs |
$10.00/ac
$4.10 $23.80 $22.00 $59.90 |
* Seed price includes Extender Coat
** Seed price does not include Extender Coat
Returns:
Using the canola price for November, the net return is $5.45/bu. For spring wheat, the Pool PRO net return is $4.14/bu for No.1 with 12.5% protein and $3.92/bu for No. 1 with 11.5% protein. To compare the two crops I used the yield necessary to break even with the input costs.
Yield needed to break even:
|
Canola:
Roundup Ready variety: Fall seeded: 12.2 bu/ac Early spring & normal spring seeded 11.4 bu/ac CLEARFIELD canola variety * 12.6 bu/ac Liberty Link variety* 12.8 bu/ac Wheat: 12.5% protein 14.5 bu/ac 11.5% protein 15.3 bu/ac |
* Early or normal spring seeded.
As it turns out, canola looks pretty good compared to wheat. Another factor to consider is that if the grade of wheat is lower, which can be the case when growing wheat on wheat, the break even yield is even higher. Granted, these input costs don't include expenses such as crop insurance or hail insurance which are higher for canola than wheat. With all the variability with these costs, one has to apply their own numbers to the cost of production. However it does illustrate that not only does it make agronomic sense to keep canola in the rotation, it makes economic sense as well.