Manitoba Canola Growers Cancel 2026 Canola Variety Trials Due to Industry Participation Challenges

Mar 31, 2026

The Manitoba Canola Variety Evaluation Trials (CVET) will not take to the field for the 2026 season. The program, an initiative of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA), was launched in 2024 with the goal of providing farmers across the province with regional, independent testing of commercial canola varieties. The decision to cancel the program for the upcoming field season was made due to a lack of seed company involvement, which eroded the value that the program could provide back to farmers.

“The decision to cancel the program was not made lightly. Now more than ever, we see the importance of providing support to farmers to ensure they are able to maximize return on investment of seed purchases,” commented Amy Delaquis, Research and Agronomy Manager with MCGA. “This program was a tool that allowed for an understanding of which varieties, across companies, are best suited to tackle the challenges farmers are facing on their farms.”

The importance of the program was widely recognized by farmers across the province, as it represented the last independent canola variety evaluation program in Canada.

“As farmers, we saw real value in the Manitoba CVET program. It was the last place in Canada for truly independent, side-by-side comparisons of canola varieties,” shares Nicolea Dow, Chair of the Research and Agronomy Committee with MCGA. “It’s disappointing that it had to be cancelled due to a lack of broader industry participation, especially when companies that participated in the trials strongly supported it.”

In order for a variety to be evaluated through this independent program and for results to be published publicly, seed companies must agree to their varieties being entered into the trials. Reluctance of seed companies to participate in CVET has been a continuous challenge of the program. MCGA has continuously worked towards getting better representation of canola varieties in the program for the past three years without progress. CVET was designed to provide the best program possible that balanced scientifically sound experimental design and field performance. Oversight and guidance was provided through a technical advisory committee that included canola experts from academia and industry. Thanks to Brett Young, Canterra, Maziex, BASF, and Winfield United for their continued participation and support for the CVET program.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.