Updated Canola Innovation Strategy Unveiled

The Canola Council of Canada has developed an updated strategy that will help the industry chart a path toward its Keep It Coming 2025 goals and beyond.

The so-called Canola Innovation Strategy, developed through indepth consultations with major stakeholders in 2021, provides an aligned value chain vision - from farm to customer - for the innovations needed to “to do even more for our economy and our environment.” It outlines objectives for canola performance, precision, protection and products, and calls for a predictable and science-based regulatory system.

The four key pillars of the strategy are summarized as follows:

• Performance – Increase productivity and meet current and future customer needs for oil and protein. Remain a top crop for Canadian producers, sequester more carbon in the soil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to biodiversity.
• Precision – Use current and new field tools and technologies to increase productivity and reduce the environmental footprint of canola.
• Protection – Protect the crop from pests and other threats to productivity, including climate change factors, while also protecting markets.
• Product – Ensure Canada’s canola industry can supply current customers while also being flexible to adapt to changing market demands for oil, meal, protein and fuel.

The ultimate aim of the Keep It Coming 2025 initiative is to achieve an average yield of 52 bu/acre to meet global market demand of 26 million tonnes by the year 2025.

The canola industry contributes $29.9 billion to the Canadian economy annually, including 207,000 jobs from growing, processing and exporting canola. With the announcements in 2021 and early 2022 of five new processing plants in Saskatchewan and the doubling of another, canola has opportunity to increase its place among the major growth sectors in the Canadian economy and play a key part in the post-COVID recovery, the strategy document said.

“Canola’s position as one of the world’s most important oilseeds and Canada’s most valuable crop is built upon continued investment in research and innovation,” said Curtis Rempel, CCC vice president of crop production and innovation. “Canola needs constant innovation to increase productivity per acre, maintain high demand for its oil and protein, and continue to improve its environmental footprint.”