Canada
April 2009

by Luc Casséus, Statistics Canada

With its vibrant yellow flowers, a canola field is a beautiful sight. And its colour is a clue to its family history—mustard.

“Canola” refers to a particular group of rapeseed varieties, a species of the much larger mustard family that includes, besides mustard, turnips, cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. While these plants have been bred for their roots (turnips), leaves (cabbage) or immature flower heads (cauliflower and broccoli), the rapeseed branch of the family was bred to maximize production of the high-oil seeds that are used to produce vegetable oil.

An ancient oilseed, rapeseed was cultivated in Asia and Europe as a source of lamp oil and, later, cooking oil. Much later, its physical properties made it an essential lubricant for steam engines on naval and merchant ships.

It was first grown in Canada as an emergency measure during the Second World War when European and Asian supplies were cut off. Canada responded by quickly increasing its limited rapeseed production. But by 1950 steam power had been converted to diesel and the crop almost disappeared.

Until the 1960s Canada’s edible oil production was based on imported oilseeds, a market opportunity that researchers quickly identified as a potential saviour for the flagging rapeseed sector. The main impediment to edible oilseed production was the significant levels of erucic acid and eicosenoic acids, both nutritionally undesirable. Rapeseed also contains sulphur compounds called glucosinolates, which at low levels impart the sharp flavour characteristic of certain vegetables such as radishes and mustard but which, at high concentrations, limit the usefulness of rapeseed for consumption by humans and livestock.

The solution was canola (an abbreviation of “Canadian oil”), developed by plant breeders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the 1960s and 1970s. Through traditional cross-breeding experiments, they minimized the
undesirable compounds and developed varieties that yielded food-grade oil. By the 1980s, canola had replaced rapeseed in Canadian oilseed production.

The small yellow flowers characteristic of the canola plant produce tiny round seeds in small pods. These seeds are crushed to produce oil, and the remainder is processed into meal, which can be used as a high-protein livestock feed.

Full report: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/96-325-x/2007000/article/10778-eng.pdf

Website: http://www.statcan.ca

Published: April 15, 2009