Top Five Canola's of All Time; and I don't sell 'em all

Australian canola field top

Canadian field bottom

I thought of this while doing the Dekalb article, besides it is canola marketing season for me. It doesn't hurt to promote a bit.

I looked for breakthrough canola that lead the others. My criteria is as follows and not in order or importance:

• Yield advances - Something that bumped the yield up to over 25 bu or over 30 and now over 40
• Yield advantage - Canolas that stayed ahead in yield no matter what the conditions. Dry, wet, hot or perfect. North, South, East or West
• Great agronomic package - Easy to swath. Early season vigor, you know the big cabbage leaves, nice and green, quick out of the ground. Or doesn't shell easy or flowers for a long time, or nice big black seed. Or a canola that does all this
• Longevity - The canola's that kept it up over a few years. (This by the way looks like a thing of the past, they put'em out too fast) Something farmers become loyal to because of it's performance

The TOP FIVE GREATEST CANOLA"S OF ALL TIME:

NUMBER FIVE: HYOLA 401. The grandaddy of hybirds. 401 was a dream to cut and it yielded over 30 bu per acre, a jump in yield for our part of the country. Big, black seeds just poured from this compact plant. It was the first canola that farmers said "where did the yield come from" . Grain buyers loved that seed and farmers took pride in delivering a load. But Hyola's longevity sets it apart it was "the" hybrid for 10 years.

NUMBER FOUR: 34-55 The first "good" Roundup Ready. I got serious about canola with 34-55. Another compact canola, 34-55 stood well and is still the easiest canola to cut. It set a standard by bringing RR yields up to the levels on conventional canola. As a bonus it produced in the wet, the dry, the hot and everywhere in between.

NUMBER THREE: 45H21 A pox on the competition. The first and still the standard for Roundup Ready Hybrids. H21 has the whole agronomic package, yield, standablity, and an R rating for Blackleg. Proven has put out newer products, but no Roundup Ready has yielded with 45H21 yet.

NUMBER TWO: 46A76 Another pox on the competition. A case could be made for 46A76 being the best canola ever. My first 50 bu canola field was 76. A Solid well branched plant with a sturdy stem, this Clearfield yielded in every kind of weather. At one point a third of the acres in my market area was 46A76. Acres of this canola were "brown bagged" across the prairies, leading Monsanto to use there TUA business model to protect there canola system.

NUMBER ONE: Invigor 2573 Nothing yields like INVIGOR. This dark green plant with it's aggressive cabbage leaves is a beautiful crop to look at. 2573 was the Invigor that started farmers saying (with pride) "I grow Invigors". It's not the easiest to swath, it can be large and leaning, but this was the breakthrough in yield, 40 bu became possible. With the right conditions more than 40 bu became possible. Bayer's growing market share started here and continues

The late cuts.

Weststar - The first canola most people grew and the standard for a long time for trial checks

Elbony - An excellent standing canola, that grew very tall. Elbony yielded well, flowered forever and had an R rating for blackleg

Invigor 5020 - The new standard for yield. 5020 is the Invigor you can cut. It missed the cut because it needs to lead the pack for 2 more years