Agricultural News
Rain Desperately Need to Finish Canola Planting
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:30:51 CDT
Canola planting is progressing across Oklahoma. About half of the crop has been planted to date. Great Plains Canola Association Executive Director Ron Sholar said the crop needs more moisture to get established.
"We didn't get the rain out of (Hurricane) Odile that we were counting on," Sholar said. "...That was a pretty big disappointment because that has slowed this down some."
Canola planting is running a little bit behind wheat planting. Canola farmers still have two and half weeks left in the planting window. Sholar said it is still a little early for some farmers to get the crop planted, but many are holding off for some rain in the next few days.
"We'll get the rest of this in," Sholar said. "Some have dusted it in. They don't like doing that but sometimes that's what you have to do. Some will talk about planting down to moisture. When the moisture is down as far as it is right now that's kind of a dangerous proposition too. We're feeling still reasonably optimistic Ron (Hays), enough time is left to get this crop in, so we are still counting on good things."
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays interviewed Sholar about the planting season and the attitude of farmers. Click on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to the full interview.
With the intense drought in recent years, its been tough on both canola and wheat growers. The 2014 crop was a disaster for both crops, but Sholar believes canola held in there as well if not better than wheat.
"It is a deep tap root crop and it will go down and forage for moisture, we believe that is still an advantage of canola," Sholar said. "But if you don't have any rain it doesn't matter what it will forage for there is nothing there for it to get."
Last year's crop was disappointing, but some farmers are a bit more optimistic for the 2015 crop. Sholar said a lot of farmers that remain committed to growing canola, but the state will need to get another rain soon to get this crop started.
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