World Grain - August 2022 - 38

REGIONAL REVIEW: CANOLA A LATE BLOOMER IN AUSTRALIA
" Canola yields are expected to decline
in the forecast year after setting
a record in the previous year, in part
due to the high price and tight supply
of fertilizers, " the attaché said.
Rapeseed dominates
Australian
oilseed production. The only other
oil
crops produced are
small
amounts of olives and cottonseed.
However, the attaché commented
that " the long-term trend in Australia
is for expanding olive production as
young trees commence bearing fruit
and increase yields, and the forecast
year is expected to rise because of a
natural biennial affect in yield after
a low previous crop, " while cottonseed
output has risen with increased
availability of water for irrigation.
Part of the reason the attaché expected
reduced rapeseed production
was " farmers having less suitable area available in their
crop rotations for canola after the previous two years of
big-planted area, " while " in addition, the three major
input cost items of fertilizer, chemicals, and diesel all
have skyrocketed in recent months, and the supply of
some of these items is also proving to be challenging. "
Production is encouraged by high prices.
" Since the start of 2021, the canola price has risen
by around 60%, with the peak price even higher, " the
report said. " After prices started to decline around the
start of harvest from mid-October 2021, they started
to rally from mid-February 2022, leading up to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Futures prices for late
With increasing
energy market
prices and the
primary purpose of
exports to the EU
being for biodiesel
production, it is
anticipated that
the EU market will
remain strong for
Australia.
2022 at harvest for Australian producers
are currently strong relative
to historical prices. "
Origins of Australian canola
The first commercial production of
rapeseed in Australia was in 1969, according
to a 1999 report published on
the website of the Australian Oilseeds
Federation. With the title " Canola in
Australia - the first 30 years, " it includes
a chapter by Bob Colton, at the
time program leader (Oils) for New
South Wales Agriculture, and Trent
Potter, then a research officer with
the South Australian Research and
Development Institute at Naracoorte.
They pointed out that rapeseed is not
such a new crop, having been grown
in India in 2,000 BCE. The crop was
first grown in Canada in 1942, to use
the oil as a lubricant. Edible oil was not extracted until
1956. Test plots were grown in Australia in the 1960s,
but the introduction of wheat delivery quotas led to it
becoming a commercial crop at the end of the decade.
Initially Canadian varieties were used, but the two
authors said that " soon after the industry began in the
late 1960s, the need to develop improved Australian
varieties became obvious. "
" Victoria set up the first breeding program in 1970,
followed by Western Australia and New South Wales
in 1973, " they said. " Their initial objectives were to
develop varieties that were blackleg resistant and were
low in erucic acid and glucosinolates, while maintaining
or increasing yields. "
Blackleg had become a major problem
in the early 1970s and the disease soon
became widespread, they explained.
" In Western Australia, where the disease
was most severe, yield losses of up
to 80% resulted in plantings crashing
from 49,000 hectares in 1972 to 3,200
in 1974, " they added. " Even though resistant
varieties
were developed,
the
Western Australian industry only started
to produce significant quantities of canola
again from the early to mid-1990s. "
By the time Colton and Potter wrote
their article, the crop was well established
as a major earner for Australian
agriculture.
" In 1998-99, almost 1.3 million tonnes
were exported to China, the European
Union, Japan, Mexico and the Indian sub38
August
2022 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
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World Grain - August 2022

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