Agricultural News
On the OSU Extension Canola Field Tour- 2012 Crop Looks Tremendous!
Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:14:13 CDT
With the 2012 Oklahoma State University Extension Canola Field Tour halfway complete, two words sum up what was being talked about at the sixth stop of thirteen Tuesday evening east of El Reno- "Tremendous Potential." More than one of the OSU and industry officials who made most or all of the first six stops echoed that opinion as Farm Director Ron Hays talked with them in Canadian County on Tuesday. (Picture here from the Canadian County plots- this canola is slightly past full bloom and is a little over five feet tall.)
OSU Canola Special Project Director Mark Boyles used the word tremendous in his description saying "it's been excellent fall growth, it's been excellent spring growth, it's been cool, it has rained every little bit" as he was looking at a field of canola just north of old Route 66, which is easily two weeks ahead of normal crop development. He says that the fields seen in Canadian County are not unlike that he saw in Burlington and Okeene earlier on Tuesday, telling Hays that if everything holds together for a few more weeks- we could be looking at many fields producing fifty to sixty bushels per acre. Even with higher input costs than wheat, a strong yield at twice the per bushel price of wheat is catching the attention of wheat farmers throughout the southern Great Plains.
The OSU demonstration plots in Canadian County is on land that Jerry Lingo is farming this year. The wheat/canola farmer is in his second year of growing canola and is delighted with the potential of the 2012 crop. He has a total of about 400 acres of canola this year, and expects to swath the crop, placing it into windrows by early May, with the combine to follow a week or so later.
As mentioned above, Boyles believes that fields like the one Lingo is raising this season has the potential to make 2500 to 3000 pounds of canola per acre- translated that would be 50 to 60 bushels per acre. With cash canola prices running from $12 to $14 per bushel versus wheat around $6 per bushel as we approach the harvest season- it's no wonder that OSU County Extension Ag Educator Brad Tipton says that he has heard more than one wheat farmer wish out loud- "I wish I had a few more acres of canola this year."
We have a video with Mark Boyles as we stand in front of this field of winter canola from Tuesday evening- our CanolaTV segments are a service of PCOM, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill- click here for their website to learn more about PCOM's efforts to serve not just canola producers, but the cotton industry in the region as well.
Click on the play button in the video box to see the conversation that Ron Hays had with Mark Boyles on the 2012 Canola Field Tour.
AND- there are pictures up on FLICKR from the El Reno stop on Tuesday evening. Click here for our set of photos on FLICKR of the 2012 Oklahoma Canola Crop.
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