The challenge
Australian grain growers have increasingly embraced canola as a profitable winter crop option with annual plantings tripling over the past 20 years to almost three million hectares. Growers now produce more than six million tonnes of canola per season, contributing well over $3 billion to the national economy each year.
With more than two thirds of the national crop exported, Australia is a major player on the global export stage, dominating the European market where it is primarily used as a biofuel feedstock.
Canola’s versatility lies in the fact it can be processed into both oil and meal which contributes to the stability of grower returns, particularly given the burgeoning growth in consumer and end-user demand for healthier oil alternatives, biofuels and meal for stockfeed.
In addition to its gross margin potential, canola provides agronomic benefits as a rotational break crop for cereal root and crown diseases and offers a wide spectrum of weed management options.
However, canola production isn’t without its challenges, particularly in the less-reliable rainfall regions. Although growers recognise the crop’s profitability potential and farming system benefits, there remains a perceived production risk due to the high level of inputs required, such as seed, nitrogen fertiliser, sulphur fertiliser and windrowing.
Overcoming these challenges necessitates better adapted varieties, an improved understanding of canola’s yield drivers and the development of more robust agronomic management guidelines across a range of production environments.
The response
GRDC has supported the industry by investing in an extensive range of projects to improve knowledge and management of weeds and pests, diseases, soils, farming systems, herbicide use and tolerance, as well as improvements in nutrient and water use efficiency.
Between 2019 and 2022 alone, GRDC made direct investments of more than $30 million in canola research projects focused on improving yield and understanding yield drivers. With research partner contributions and in-kind support, total industry investment over this recent period totalled $43 million.
This included projects such as tactical break crop agronomy and achieving stable and high canola yield across the rainfall zones of Western Australia, as well as several projects focusing on areas such as heat stress, crop establishment and blackleg management that are conducted under the GRDC and New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) strategic agreement, the Grains Agronomy and Pathology Partnership.
In recognition that yield increases are critical to boosting farming system productivity and profitability, significant research efforts have been directed into improving the understanding the drivers of canola yield.
An example of this work is the Optimised Canola Profitability (OCP) project (CSP1706-015RMX) which has conducted fundamental research on canola phenology, physiology and tactical agronomy to improve canola yield and profit with trial sites spanning nine cropping zones across the southern and northern regions.
This research was a collaborative effort between the GRDC, CSIRO and NSW DPI in partnership with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (the research division of the SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions), Charles Sturt University, Mallee Sustainable Farming and Birchip Cropping Group.
Specifically focusing on low and medium rainfall zones to complement similar GRDC-supported projects in Western Australia and high rainfall zones, the OCP project conducted a broad range of field experiments and modelling simulations covering sowing times, varietal phenology, variety selection and yield stability under low rainfall conditions.
An Impact Survey report compiled by CSIRO highlighted the significance of the OCP project. Ninety consultants overseeing some 700,000 hectares of canola crop were surveyed, of whom 76 had heard of the project and 52 had used it to inform practice changes.
The estimated value of those practice changes totalled $74 million annually, or $29.60 per hectare per year revenue gain.
The impact
South Australian grain grower Mark Modra. Photo: GRDC
Outcomes from the OCP project have attracted widespread interest from growers. Workshops across NSW, Victoria and SA attracted 472 attendees with influence across 710,000 hectares of canola or nearly two thirds of the region’s total canola area.
South Australian grain grower Mark Modra is a strong supporter of research into canola phenology, agronomy and pathology and has hosted a range of research trials on his lower Eyre Peninsula property.
Staying abreast of research outcomes and their implications is a priority for Mr Modra and he says the OCP trial work confirmed the importance of targeted agronomic planning and management, especially in varietal selection and time of sowing.
“Timing is everything and it’s critical to match your variety and sowing date to the optimum flowering window for your region,” he said.
“Fortunately, our production environment favours a relatively broad canola planting window, which lets us to take advantage of early or delayed sowing opportunities as dictated by the season.
“Given early sowing can be a key yield driver, we recognise the significant value of our early sowing opportunities.
“But we’re also conscious of managing other factors such as crop nutrition and disease – especially blackleg, but also sclerotinia stem rot – to fully capitalise on those opportunities.
“Research like the OCP project strengthens our understanding of the link between canola physiology and tactical agronomic management, so we can make informed decisions to maximise yields and profitability.”