The House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations subcommittees released in July reports that accompany the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills. Both have $2 million in funding for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Supplemental & Alternative Crops Competitive Grants Program, which includes canola.

The U.S. Canola Association (USCA) joined over 500 agricultural organizations and farm bill stakeholders on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging the passage of a farm bill this year.

The USCA submitted comments on July 25 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on its request for information on procedures for quantification, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of domestic agricultural commodities used as biofuel feedstocks. “Carbon intensity scores for crop-based biofuels are unfairly penalized by flawed application of indirect emissions from induced land use change,” underscored the USCA. “While induced land use change analysis is gradually being corrected by research and data, it remains riddled by faulty assumptions, inaccuracies and uncertainties.”

The USDA announced changes to the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) as of the 2025 crop year. Its Risk Management Agency (RMA) is increasing the premium subsidy rate for ECO to 65%, up from the current 44%. Producers can cover up to 86% of expected area revenue with the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), which also has a premium subsidy of 65%. Under ECO, producers can insure up to 95% of the area revenue or yield. Farm Bill proposals in both the House and Senate would boost the SCO premium subsidy to 80% and increase the coverage level to 90%.

In response to ongoing high-volume imports of used cooking oil from China that is displacing domestic vegetable oils in U.S. biofuel markets, the American Soybean Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association and National Farmers Union sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for restriction of imports of biofuel feedstocks. The groups are pushing for changes to the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit that starts Jan. 1, 2025, which replaces the existing $1.00 per gallon tax credit for biomass-based diesel. A limitation on domestic feedstocks could have different impacts on the North American canola market and trade flows. The USCA Executive Committee has discussed the issue and is now consulting with industry partners to determine the specific impacts on canola.

A group of agricultural stakeholders, including the USCA, issued a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding its Endangered Species Act risk assessment process for pesticides. The group makes a case for using more refined risk assessment processes, identifies potential improvements that could be used and calls on the agency to engage with stakeholders. “The current methods EPA uses to assess these risks are exceedingly conservative, often relying on unrefined models and very conservative assumptions in lieu of considering available relevant and reliable scientific and commercial data,” the group wrote. “As a result, these assessments can significantly overstate risks to species, concluding that pesticide users must adopt more costly, stringent restrictions than are truly necessary to protect listed species.”

The EPA released on July 25 its draft insecticide strategy for public comment as another step towards addressing its obligations under the ESA. The strategy identifies protections that the agency will consider when it registers or re-evaluates an insecticide to address potential impacts on more than 850 species. The EPA included additional mitigations in the draft strategy to expand compliance options and takes into account measures already implemented by farmers and those located in areas less prone to pesticide run-off. The strategy also includes USDA National Resources Conservation Service practices and state or private stewardship measures that are effective at reducing run-off. It describes the analyses conducted to estimate exposure and assess the 1) potential impacts, both directly and indirectly, of an insecticide to listed species groups and 2) extent of mitigations needed to reduce population-level impacts on the listed groups. Finally, the draft strategy identifies the geographic extent of mitigation and describes the implementation plan.

The EPA released on July 26 updated occupational exposure assessments for seed treatment uses of neonicotinoids clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. Neonicotinoids disrupt the central nervous system of insects and can have neurotoxic impacts on humans at high levels of exposure. The EPA has incorporated new data submitted by the Agricultural Handler Exposure Task Force on handler exposure to these insecticides via skin and inhalation. The majority of risks result from cleaning seed treatment equipment, even when wearing maximum personal protective equipment.

Clean Fuels Alliance America told the EPA that it will sue the agency over its delay in establishing 2026 biofuel volumes for its Renewable Fuel Standard program, reported Transport Topics. “Biodiesel and renewable diesel producers are beginning to cut production or close their doors as a result of EPA’s miscalculation of the 2023, 2024 and 2025 RFS volumes,” said Paul Winters, Clean Fuels public affairs and federal communications director. “That means shipping companies who want to reduce environmental impacts in their supply chain and trucking companies that want to use better, cleaner fuels will have a tougher time finding a near-term, cost-effective, low-carbon solution.”

Eight scientists denounced in a federal appeals court claims made in a lawsuit that the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard has led to the loss of habitat for endangered species and loss of grasslands. The Center for Biological Diversity filed the claim in 2023. The scientists said that analyses from “more complete, updated data” found that the average carbon intensity of biofuels is “significantly less” than conventional fuel. “Over time, as technologies and practices advance and with various incentives the federal government has put into place, that benefit is expected to continue growing at an accelerated pace,” they said.

Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have discovered a new mechanism of oil biosynthesis that enables them to genetically engineer a test plant to produce different types of oil that it normally wouldn’t make. “This is a new discovery that nobody knew plants could do,” said Dr. Philip Bates, associate professor at WSU’s Institute of Biological Chemistry and lead author on the study. “We want to see if common crop plants, like canola, can do this remodeling as well.” The study was published in the journal Nature Communications and supported by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Clubroot, blackleg and verticillium stripe are all diseases that should be tested in order to confirm their presence in the field, reported Real Agriculture. “We cannot manage what we do not know,” noted agronomist Kaeley Kindrachuk. (Photo: Canola Council of Canada)

Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, and the Great Plains Canola Association (GPCA) will host two Great Plains winter canola meetings Tue.-Wed., Aug. 6-7 per Morning AgClips. Topics will include performance of past and future varieties, pre- and in-season nitrogen applications, winter survival, and harvest management. The Aug. 6 meeting will be in Harper, Kan. at Westview Lodge at 5:30 pm and the Aug. 7 meeting will be in Enid, Okla. at the Hoover Building at 10 am. A meal will be sponsored by the GPCA and industry partners. To register for the Kansas meeting, call the Harper County extension office at 620-842-5445 or e-mail Jenni Carr at jlcarr@k-state.edu. For the Enid meeting, contact Ron Sholar at 405-780-0113 or jrsholar@aol.com or Josh Bushong at 405-361-6941 or josh.bushong@okstate.edu.

Farm Progress featured two growers in Minnesota, who gave several reasons for why they added canola in crop rotations. Among them were profitability, harvest time, improved genetics, ability to use existing equipment and direct harvest, and minimal inputs.

Field to Market, a member organization to which the USCA belongs, will host its 2024 Sustainable Agriculture Summit Nov. 20-21 in Minneapolis. Registration is now open. The summit, entitled “A Decade of Progress and a Vision for the Future,” will celebrate 10 years of collaboration on sustainable agriculture. Field to Market’s own conference will precede the summit Nov.18-19 at the same location.

Are you organizing an international conference on canola research in 2025? Or would you like to work with researchers in another country to help your research project? If so, consider applying for funding from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Co-operative Research Program. Applications are now being accepted until Sept. 10.

Did you know that canola oil is eligible for the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Food Certification Program? That’s because it has a qualified health claim relating to reduced risk of heart disease authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In order to be eligible for the program, foods must meet government regulatory requirements for making a heart disease health claim. The Heart-Check mark on product labels makes it easy to identify heart-healthy foods in the grocery store.

Record canola plantings are expected in Canada this year due to dry conditions last spring per Reuters, which conducted a survey of 16 grain traders and analysts. Spring floods the two previous years washed out millions of acres in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which prompted farmers to plant earlier this year. Statistics Canada forecasts 20.6 million acres of canola in 2024, surpassing last year’s 18.9 million acres by 9 percent.

Canada aims to reach an agreement with China before it tightens import rules for Canadian canola, reported Reuters, as the issue threatens sales to this top export market. China’s quarantine authority, AQSIQ, said it would impose a stricter standard of no more than 1 percent foreign material, such as straw and other plant seeds, per shipment instead of the current 2.5 percent. starting April 1. It postponed the move to Sept. 1.

Canola Week 2024 will be Dec. 3-5 at the Holiday Inn Saskatoon Downtown. It will open with a recap of the growing season and state of the industry, followed by nutrient management priorities to optimize canola production and canola innovations. Canola Week merges three meetings into one.

The International Grains Council expects world rapeseed production in 2024-25 to drop 2 percent from the previous year’s level to 87.2 million tonnes, reported UFOP. The main reason for the decline is likely a smaller harvest in Australia.

Canola is the next “hot commodity for biofuels,” according to Bloomberg, which examined investments in U.S. winter canola production for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Chevron Corp., Bunge Global SA and Corteva Inc. just completed their first season of a joint program encouraging Tennessee and Kentucky farmers to “double crop” by planting winter canola before soybeans or cotton. The pilot went so well that the companies plan to expand acreage seven-fold this fall and expand into Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. Chevron and Bunge will open a flexible crushing plant for canola and other oilseeds in Louisiana in 2026. Meanwhile, Scoular Co. will open a retrofitted canola and other oilseed crushing plant in October in Goodland, Kansas. These industry investments are fueled by growing demand for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

Chris Vervaet, executive director of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association, discusses in the USCA Blog canola’s role in soil organic carbon (SOC). He notes that the transformation of Canada’s cropping system is resulting in increased SOC, primarily from the reduction in summer fallow and tillage, including the large-scale adoption of no-till practices. Increased SOC accounts for significant removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere so it is quantified in Canada’s official greenhouse gas inventory and factored into estimating the carbon footprint of canola and other crops.

Cargill announced on July 26 that construction of its new canola facility in West Regina, Sask. is more than 50 percent complete. It broke ground on the facility in July 2022 and anticipates opening in 2025. The facility will be able to process 1 million tonnes of canola per year. “The current construction environment is full of unique challenges and this project has faced many headwinds since we broke ground, but we are committed to becoming a best-in-class option for canola growers in the region, along with helping decarbonize the global food and fuel supply chain,” said Jeff Vassart, president of Cargill Canada.

Bunge Chevon Ag Renewables is expanding farmer contracts for winter canola in the southeast this fall as part of a biofuel project with Corteva Agriscience. The project began with 5,000 acres of the crop last year and will increase to 35,000 this fall. The crop will be crushed at Bunge’s Louisiana plant, which has renewable diesel production capabilities. “You’re over doubling the amount of oil you can pull off on a per acre basis compared to soybeans, and from a crushing standpoint, that matters ‘cause the crushed plant can only do so many tons in a day,” said Chad Berghoefer, Corteva’s Global Product Director for Biofuels. While winter canola genetics are currently being sourced from Europe, Corteva is working on establishing U.S. winter canola seed production to support the growth.

ADM is developing winter canola in Michigan, where it began contracting with farmers in 2020. The crop is currently growing in four counties and crushed at ADM’s facility in Windsor, Ontario. Company spokesperson Tom Butcher notes winter canola fits well in rotations following wheat or corn silage and provides soil health and economic benefits.

Burcon NutraScience Corporation completed its first validation trial for producing high-purity, nutritionally complete canola protein isolate at its partner manufacturer’s facility ahead of schedule. “Due to significant customer interest in our canola protein, we decided to move up our launch and production timeline by six months,” said CEO Kip Underwood.  “This one-of-a-kind protein ingredient offers functional and nutritional properties that can enhance food formulations.”

The National Oilseed Processors Association issued a biomass-based diesel (BBD) feedstock study on July 9 conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights which indicates that:

• The United States is on track to produce an additional 1.4 billion gallons of BBD by 2030.
• In 2023 alone, domestic and imported feedstocks supported the production of 4.3 billion gallons of BBD.

With planned expansions to U.S. oilseed processing capabilities, domestic feedstocks alone can support production of an additional 1.4 billion gallons of BBD by 2030 while imported sources can support an additional 1 billion gallons, for a combined total of 6.7 billion gallons.

The autumn USCA board meeting will be in San Diego, Calif., Mon.-Wed., Nov. 11-13. The spring 2025 board meeting will be in Washington, D.C., Mon.-Wed., March 17-19.

Zoe Wallace joined Gordley Associates on July 22 as a new policy aide, including work for the USCA. She has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from the University of Florida and a master’s in organic agriculture and food systems from University of Hohenheim in Germany.

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