Parliament puts millions into researching thriving Canadian canola sector

It turns fields gold, and brings in a generous $30 billion dollars annually. It’s canola, and it’s getting a major cash injection.

At the Glenlea Research Station in Winnipeg on Tuesday, the federal government and Canola Council of Canada (CCC) said, together, they are putting over $17-million over five years into researching the crop.

“This new canola cluster will build on the great work of the previous one,” said Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Lawrence MacAulay.

“It will support research into improving yields, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, increasing carbon sequestration, improving soil and water quality, and creating new uses for canola.”

Curtis Rempel, vice-president of the CCC, said the crop used to make meal and oil from its seeds is the backbone of Canada’s agriculture scene.

“Canola has grown to become the leading source of farm crop revenue, and generates nearly $30-billion in economic activity for Canada each year,” he said.

In a press release, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada added that the sector also creates well over 200,000 jobs annually, and is the nation’s second largest acreage crop with about 20-million acres produced yearly.

MacAulay noted that the global demand for canola is on the rise, and more countries could be added to the 60-plus list to which Canada currently exports.

“I can assure you, the demand is strong,” he said.

Mario Tenuta, industrial research chair for University of Manitoba’s Nutrient Stewardship Faculty of Agriculture, said research “is a tremendous resource to improve productivity of our crops, such as canola, but also profitability and efficiency of production for farmers.

“Also, more and more important,” he said, is to better equip Canada “to take on probably our greatest challenge of climate change.”

MacAulay said, “this research will also contribute to Canada’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050.”

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