More and more Southern Plains farmers are becoming familiar with the advantages of planting winter canola in rotation with winter wheat.

These advantages will be explained during the fifth annual Winter Canola Conference July 21 at the Hoover Building on the Garfield County Fairgrounds.

Purpose of the conference is to demonstrate how land grant university scientists, farmers and commercial companies work together to provide better winter canola varieties and production methods to ensure farmers are current with the latest winter canola production methodology.

The day-long program begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration, coffee and doughnuts. Program begins at 9 a.m.

There is no charge for registration, refreshments and the catered steak lunch, according to Gene Neuens, Producers Coop-erative Oil Mill field representative.

“We are dedicated to helping farmers grow winter canola more profitably,” Neuens said. “We want this conference to be the place where participants will learn about all the new developments in growing winter canola and where their questions will be answered.”

Nineteen presentations will be featured during the day on subjects such as the 2008-09 canola crop, insect and weed control, new varieties, fertilization, harvesting, crop insurance and a report from the Great Plains Canola Assoc-iation.

At 2 p.m., there will be an open forum moderated by Roger Gribble, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service area agronomist.

Five continuing education credits are available for crop consultants, and more than $1,500 in door prizes will be given away.

Information on the conference is available at www.canola.okstate.edu or by calling Thomas Peeper at (405) 744-6417 or Gene Neuens at (405) 232-7555.

Meanwhile, farmers who planted winter canola have been reaping a good crop.

Alan Mindemann, who farms northwest of Apache, is harvesting a good-yielding crop of winter canola.

He is particularly satisfied because the winter wheat crop has been a failure. Months of severe drought, late-spring freezes and hail storms all combined to make the 2008-09 Southern Plains winter wheat crop the smallest one since 1955.

“Unlike wheat, canola has a large taproot that grows deep into the soil to find moisture,” Mindemann said.

“Canola started out growing in cold climates. The freeze cut back its growth, but it just started regrowth with more branches and seedpods. This 130-acre field will yield 1,000-1,200 pounds per acre of seed. My 790 acres of canola probably will average 800-900 pounds of seed per acre this year.”

His 790 acres of winter canola was contracted to the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill in Okla-homa City for crushing at $13 per hundred pounds.

Another winter canola producer, Jerry Hedges, of Vici, planted 65 acres of the crop to be grown for seed for Monsanto/DeKalb.

“We just finished harvesting the canola,” Hedges said. “It yielded good, with around 96,000-97,000 pounds of seed for the 65 acres, approximately 30 bushels per acre.

“To get ready for harvest, we used a pusher, a bar attached to the front of a tractor that is the same length and height above the ground as the header on a combine.

“The plants are pushed over to lay parallel to the ground with several inches of space between the plants and the ground. This allows the seed pods to dry out without shattering and dropping the seeds on the ground.

“We let this field dry for three and a half weeks and we used a combine to thresh the grain,” Hedges said.

Information on grower contracts and other marketing information about winter canola may be obtained from Gene Neuens or Brandon Winters at the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill at (405) 232-7555.

E-mail addresses are cecneuens@yahoo.com and bwinters@producer scoop.net.