A spokesperson for the Canola Council of Canada says there are several factors that producers must consider when selecting the right variety of canola for 2025.
Curtis Rempel is Vice President of Crop Production and Innovation. He says one of the key factors is knowing what diseases you had in your field in past growing seasons. Rempel says this is important, even though next year could be entirely different, depending on weather.
For example, he says if you had Blackleg in your field in 2024, you need to consider what kind of resistance genes to select in the varieties you grow in the future.
"Knowing what variety you had and whether you had a lot of Blackleg, for instance, this past year, would make you then want to talk to your agronomist or your seed company rep and look at potentially finding a canola variety that had different Blackleg genes than you used this past year," he explains.
But Rempel says if you do not have a lot of Blackleg in your crop and it looks as though the Blackleg disease package that you currently have is working, then there is good reason to stick with the resistance gene that you are using.
"But if you are seeing a lot of disease, chances are the resistance gene is breaking down and you need to switch it up," he explains.
With respect to Verticillium stripe, Rempel says they are not currently aware of any resistance genes that are available.
"A lot of the companies are really working hard at developing resistance to Verticillium stripe," he says. "So, there's no variety choice at this point in time that we can recommend."
Rempel says another factor to consider is pod shatter. He notes producers need to think about the pod shatter trait they want to use in their variety.
"In some cases, you might have to make a tradeoff between pod shatter and Blackleg," he says. "If you have a pod shatter trait that you think is going to give you 10 bushels an acre yield advantage, but you are losing 15 bushels an acre due to Blackleg, then I would prioritize Blackleg over pod shatter and think about Blackleg first."
A third factor is the actual maturity of the variety. Rempel notes typically the longer the maturity, the higher the yield potential.
"Long-season varieties typically will be higher yielding and it kind of makes sense," he says. "The more growing days you have for a variety, the more sunlight it gets, the more yield potential it has."
However, Rempel says there is a good case to be made for taking some shorter-season varieties and planting them early in the season to beat the heat in July. He notes that way you can get the plant through the early flowering phase before the hot weather settles in.
"You might sacrifice a bit of yield potential," he points out. "But you might make it all back based on the fact that you can beat the heat."
Rempel says one final recommendation is to not use the same variety across an entire farm. He notes planting more than one variety is not only helpful in the event of adverse weather conditions but also in mitigating disease risk.