Canola flood planned for U.S.

Canadian canola growers could soon have a big new competitor close to home.

Corteva Agriscience, Bunge and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. have announced a collaboration to produce winter canola in the southern United States.

Corteva believes there is potential to grow up to 10 million acres in that region within seven to nine years.

To put that in perspective, Canadian growers seeded 21 million acres of the oilseed in 2022, while Australian farmers planted about nine million acres.

Growers in the U.S. harvested 2.2 million acres of canola last year.

A tiny fraction of that was grown in the south. There were 9,000 acres seeded in Kansas and 7,000 in Oklahoma.

Tom Greene, leader of external innovation with Corteva, said the company is starting slow, targeting 10,000 acres of production in Tennessee and Mississippi for its 2023 pilot program.