Canola Challenge set to grow
Story Added : 24th April 2011
South Australian growers will join the Challenge for the first time this year with several having already signed up.
Last year, around 30 canola growers from Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia took part, growing Clearfield canola side-by-side in the same paddock as triazine-tolerant (TT) canola.
The exercise gave them the opportunity to compare canola systems on their own farms. Each crop was judged on attributes such as yield, oil, weed control, crop rotation, sustainability of herbicide use and gross margin difference between the systems.
On average, the Clearfield hybrids grown by the three state winners produced a lift in yield of nearly 30 per cent over TT varieties and. Oil content was, on average, more than 1 per cent better.
Murray Witcombe, of Inverleigh, won the Victorian competition last year with his Pioneer 45Y82 variety yielding 2.76 tonnes per hectare, against 2.29 tonnes for the TT.
Mr Witcombe's gross margin for the Clearfield hybrid was $1114 compared with $829 for the TT hybrid 751TT, a massive $285.70/ha difference.
Oil content was 43.4 per cent, against the TT’s 42.6 per cent.
Trial plots in the Challenge are required to be a minimum of 15 ha to provide comparisons under normal farm conditions.
Winners from the 2010 season will travel to Canada in August to study its canola industry.
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