Could 2008 be the start of another "golden era" for canola?

The last of these was during the 1990s.

After a promising start in 2007, the crop again fell on hard times when the rain cut out in July.

The big difference this year is that we could start the season with a reasonable profile of soil moisture, something that has been missing since 2000.

Prices are forecast to remain high for all grains, but unfortunately input costs have skyrocketed, which means dollars out and in will be the name of the game this season.

There will be 11 new canola varieties available for 2008, taking the total to 45 varieties to choose from.

The seed companies have relegated a number of wellknown varieties to outclassed status, for likely withdrawal in 2009.

Also, the moratorium on GM canola in NSW could soon be lifted, which would allow an additional three or four varieties to be grown on a small scale in 2008.

The new releases comprise two conventionals - AVGarnet and Hyola 76; eight triazine tolerant (TT) varieties - ATR-Cobbler, ATRMarlin, NMT-320, Flinders TTC, Rottnest TTC, Hurricane TT, Storm TT and Tawriffic TT; one CLEARFIELD canola, 44C79, and one CLEARFIELD Juncea canola, Oasis CL.

Solid long-term data on most newly released canola varieties is limited at best, not helped by two drought years in the National Variety Trials (NVT) testing system.

Also some varieties have only been tested for one year in NVT trials.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries booklet Winter Crop Variety Sowing Guide 2008 contains the long-term analyses for those varieties tested in the NVT system in 2007.

In that set of data, the more times a variety has been in trials the more reliable the data is for that variety.

The oil content of the new varieties is an important selection criterion as yield and oil content determines the profit margin.

Contact Don McCaffery, Orange, (02) 6391 3648.