Page 5 - VT Vibe Newsletter Dec 2019 FINAL

US Canola Association Tours Warden Canola Crush Plant

(Courtesy of the US Canola Association)
For the first time in history, the US
Canola Association (USCA) held a
meeting in the Pacific Northwest
(Spokane, Wash.) as a testament to the
fact that canola is now a regional crop.
About 233,000 acres, representing 12 per
cent of national acreage, was grown in
Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon
in 2018.

“The Pacific Northwest will plant more
spring canola and new growers in the
region are increasing,” says PNW Canola
Association Executive Director Karen
Sowers. “The production per acre has
gone up due to better genetics and
grower management.”

At the Tri-State Grain Growers
Convention in Spokane following the The USCA celebrated its 30th anniversary in PNW canola country, also marking the
USCA meeting, a panel of growers and first time it’s held meetings in the region.
other stakeholders spoke about the
benefits of canola in the PNW. Canola As part of its visit, the group toured several farms, and received a full tour of our
cleans up wheat fields, according to three Warden facility.
growers who presented. Eric Odberg Thanks to our staff at the plant for accommodating this important visit.
of Odberg Farms says he seeds winter
wheat into canola stubble, achieving workload on his farm. He uses the same are needed for this plant to operate at full
good wheat yields as a result. equipment for canola as he does for capacity. While less than half currently
cereal crops. comes from the region, Viterra expects to
“I grow canola because it makes me eventually source all of it locally.
a better wheat grower,” echoes David The expeller-press Viterra plant is largely
Brewer. Canola allows him to control to credit for increased canola acreage “The Viterra plant is a huge driver
grassy weeds in wheat, increasing yields in the PNW as a point of sale for seed. of canola production,” confirms Ray
by 10 percent, as well as spread out the About 250,000 acres of canola per year Mosman, president of the PNW Canola
Association and Idaho grower.

From the Front Lines

One of our Weyburn area farmers recently took to Twitter to
thank our staff for their hard work this harvest season.

Great job to our staff at Weyburn, and to our team members
across our country locations for going the extra mile for our
customers during this year’s difficult harvest.

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