In the year-to-year gamble with their crops, farmers win some and lose some. But they always learn something.
"I'd say this was a terrible year for growing canola," said John Woodruff, an agronomist with the University of Georgia Extension Service. "But we've gotten a lot of new information about how the crop reacts under certain weather conditions in Georgia."
Woodruff, farmers and other UGA specialists and researchers teamed up to learn about growing canola. After more than five years of research, Georgia farmers have planted the crop commercially for about six years.
Farmers grow canola for its valuable seeds, which are crushed for their oil. Prices this year have topped $6 per bushel, and Woodruff expects prices to rise slightly into 1997.
Light in color and flavor, canola oil is very low in saturated fats and is cholesterol-free. Many people now prefer it for cooking.
Canola meal, left after the seeds are crushed for oil, provides an excellent protein source for livestock.
"People around the world are virtually standing in line to buy this crop," Woodruff said. "We're working to help Georgia farmers fill that market."
Woodruff figures Georgia farmers could plant up to 200,000 acres to canola. Even figuring conservatively, that could mean nearly $50 million to the state economy every year.
This year, though, that figure will be much less.
Unusually cold weather in December, February and March damaged canola across the state. The crop was particularly hard-hit between Statesboro and Augusta.
Woodruff said many farmers lost their crops in a hard December freeze, and many whose fields survived then thought their crop was gone after early March brought another deep freeze.
"In most of the damaged fields, we estimated losses at 20 percent to 60 percent," he said. "But we saw some fields with damage or loss of 90 percent or more."
Some farmers decided to harrow up their fields and plant another high-value crop. Corn, small grains and cotton were all bringing high prices, and many farmers chose to plant them.
But since canola is fairly new to the Southeast, farmers and researchers weren't sure how or if it could recover from such damage.
As it turns out, much of the canola wasn't killed. It just froze down to the ground. Certain varieties store food in the plant's roots and use it to recover from severe damage, Woodruff said.
A"We're seeing plants now that produced axillary stems at the base of the plant," he said. "Those stems then grew, flowered and are now producing harvestable seeds."
The plants recovered well enough to produce 20 to 35 bushels per acre (40 percent to 80 percent of a normal yield). The unusually cool March and April, Woodruff said, helped the plants rebound.
"This year taught us a lot about canola," Woodruff said. "The more we learn, the more we have to base sound management and financial decisions on in the future."
In the year-to-year gamble with their crops, farmers win some and lose some. But they always learn something.
"I'd say this was a terrible year for growing canola," said John Woodruff, an agronomist with the University of Georgia Extension Service. "But we've gotten a lot of new information about how the crop reacts under certain weather conditions in Georgia."
Woodruff, farmers and other UGA specialists and researchers teamed up to learn about growing canola. After more than five years of research, Georgia farmers have planted the crop commercially for about six years.
Farmers grow canola for its valuable seeds, which are crushed for their oil. Prices this year have topped $6 per bushel, and Woodruff expects prices to rise slightly into 1997.
Light in color and flavor, canola oil is very low in saturated fats and is cholesterol-free. Many people now prefer it for cooking.
Canola meal, left after the seeds are crushed for oil, provides an excellent protein source for livestock.
"People around the world are virtually standing in line to buy this crop," Woodruff said. "We're working to help Georgia farmers fill that market."
Woodruff figures Georgia farmers could plant up to 200,000 acres to canola. Even figuring conservatively, that could mean nearly $50 million to the state economy every year.
This year, though, that figure will be much less.
Unusually cold weather in December, February and March damaged canola across the state. The crop was particularly hard-hit between Statesboro and Augusta.
Woodruff said many farmers lost their crops in a hard December freeze, and many whose fields survived then thought their crop was gone after early March brought another deep freeze.
"In most of the damaged fields, we estimated losses at 20 percent to 60 percent," he said. "But we saw some fields with damage or loss of 90 percent or more."
Some farmers decided to harrow up their fields and plant another high-value crop. Corn, small grains and cotton were all bringing high prices, and many farmers chose to plant them.
But since canola is fairly new to the Southeast, farmers and researchers weren't sure how or if it could recover from such damage.
As it turns out, much of the canola wasn't killed. It just froze down to the ground. Certain varieties store food in the plant's roots and use it to recover from severe damage, Woodruff said.
A"We're seeing plants now that produced axillary stems at the base of the plant," he said. "Those stems then grew, flowered and are now producing harvestable seeds."
The plants recovered well enough to produce 20 to 35 bushels per acre (40 percent to 80 percent of a normal yield). The unusually cool March and April, Woodruff said, helped the plants rebound.
"This year taught us a lot about canola," Woodruff said. "The more we learn, the more we have to base sound management and financial decisions on in the future."
