Difficult Choices for Canola Farmers Ahead

Jan 30, 2020

There are some difficult decisions in the months and weeks ahead for canola producers on the prairies.

Many are still dealing with the impact of the "harvest from hell". But ongoing trade issues, like the nearly 11-month-old ban of Canadian canola seed by China, is factoring into their seeding decisions in just a few short months.

That was one of the main topics on the first day of Farmtech in Edmonton, Tuesday. The Chairman of Alberta Canola, John Guelly says as the impact of this long dispute with one of our best-trading partners for canola drags on.

"The short story is there really isn't a lot of new news over the last few weeks. There were some people that went over to China, it doesn't sound like much has happened, but it is a good sign that someone did go. We really don't know any more than we have known before. It is a terrible situation.

"We had a speaker here this morning give some different insights into things and what can be done with the extradition hearing, but it is a very sensitive issue and we have to be careful of what we do. I do think that it is at the forefront of farmers minds of how much canola they seed this year. I hear of some pull back, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. We have a lot of tight rotations in the area, so backing off a few acres and lengthening those rotations is probably good for us in the long run," explained John Guelly.

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