Council launches CANOLA EXPORT READY, a canola market protection initiative – Canola growers across the prairies received a letter in mail this past week from the President of the Canola Council Barb Isman outlining their responsibility for protecting Canada’s canola export markets. The message was clear:
“Over 70 percent of Canada’s canola crop is exported around the world and its reputation as a safe and high quality product is well-deserved and well-known. From the grower to the retail store, everyone in the supply chain has a role to play to protect the future of the industry.”
The Canola Export Ready information program provides growers with specific information on farm practices that can impact trade. With this information, growers can ensure that they do their part in protecting canola export markets.
The letter and more details are on the Council Website. Listen for radio ads and watch for an insert in the next issue of Canola Digest.
Canola Council agronomists plan seeding equipment workshop for growers – On Wednesday, April 19, at CNH Place in Saskatoon, Council agronomists are partnering with seeding equipment manufacturers to help growers get the most from their seeding equipment. It’s billed as an Air Drill Diagnostics Workshop and costs $25.00 for the day. To pre-register, contact Canola Council of Canada toll-free 1-866-479-0853.
Canola Quick facts updated on Council website – Check the Council website for eight sheets of targeted Quick Facts about the canola industry.
Canola research meeting set for Indianapolis in November – The US Canola Association is organizing a special canola research workshop November 13-15, 2006 in conjunction with the joint international annual meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America in Indianapolis, IN. Check the ACS site for more details.
Higher returns offset higher seed costs for biotech crops in most developing countries – A new FAO study published in Current Opinions in Biotechnology summarizes on-farm experiences with commercial cultivation of biotech crops in developing countries. It provides comparisons across countries and identifies factors that influence the economic value of biotech crops.
Developing countries accounted for 38 percent of the worldwide acreage of biotech crops in 2005 according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). Go to the journal site for the complete article.
Willie Nelson honored for singing the praises of biodiesel – Willie Nelson, who has popularized the distribution of biodiesel in the US with his BioWillie stations, has just won an EPA award for “significant contributions to improve the environment in the year 2005”. Nelson was nominated by Green Line Industries, a US biodiesel production equipment manufacturer. Green Line won the same award.
Sunday Best Chocolate Cake a big hit on Allrecipes.com – CanolaInfo’s recipe for a very special chocolate cake featured on the website allrecipes.com for one day in February was, according to Allrecipes, “very popular across the board”! CanolaInfo just launched a new minisite with Allrecipes. Check it out. There’ll be even more canola based recipes up soon. Allrecipes.com is the second most popular consumer recipe website after the Food Network.
Canola oil recipes promote good health in physician offices across Canada – For the past year, CanolaInfo partnered with a company that placed specially designed canola recipe brochures in doctor’s offices in all provinces except Quebec. Almost 50,000 brochures were placed in prominently displayed racks. Seventy-two percent of the brochures were picked up. Pickup rates were highest in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces at 76 percent. Interest was especially high in the Toronto and Greater Toronto Area. Results were so positive that CanolaInfo has renewed and expanded the program to include Quebec and diabetes educators in 2006.
Consumers choosing good fats over low – AC Neilsen's LabelTrends reports that sales of low-, no- and reduced-fat products for 2005 were down almost by half from 2002. According to Elizabeth Sloan, president of Sloan Trends, the new emphasis will likely will be the reformulation and marketing of products to incorporate the latest nutritional thinking about fats: that there are good and bad fats. The good include olive oil, omega 3's and monounsaturated oils like canola and peanut. "Many people are now opting to get more fat in their diets, but the good fats," Sloan said. "A huge industry segment is going to have to reorient itself."
Who knew? Canola oil could save a baby orangutan! – A recent full-page ad in the New York Times encouraged consumers to steer clear of palm oil, claiming increased demand for it is driving the orangutan toward extinction. The ad was placed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). It showed a baby orangutan sitting amongst the skulls of adult orangutans with the headline “Dying for a Cookie?”
According to the CSPI, increased demand for palm oil is fueling destruction of the habitats of Sumatran and Bornean orangutans as rainforest is increasingly being cleared to make room for oil palm plantations. The New York Times ad urges consumers to “read labels and select products with non-hydrogenated soybean, corn, canola, or peanut oils, which don’t harm your arteries- or the rainforest.” It names brands such as Keebler, Mrs Fields and Pepperidge Farm, which use palm oil in their formulations, and concludes “We can find other ways of making cookies. We can’t find other ways of making orangutans.”
Canola Ink is your biweekly update from the Canola Council of Canada. Please copy, reprint or transmit
any portion of this report. If you have questions or comments, contact Diane Wreford at (204) 982-2108
or e-mail wrefordd@canola-council.org.