Canola is Coming: Why Oklahoma Wheat Farmers Might Give a Crop

• Joe Wertz
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Net_Efect / flickr

Northstar Agri Industries on Monday announced plans to build a canola processing plant in Enid. Construction won’t begin for a year, The Oklahoman‘s Paula Burkes reports, but the plant means more than 50 jobs for the state.

The bigger news, however, is for Oklahoma farmers — especially wheat farmers. So why should the state’s grain producers give a flip about a mere field mustard? Brent Kisling, executive director of the Enid Regional Development Alliance explains:

Research shows farmers who plant two years of winter wheat followed by a year of Canola can increase their wheat yields by 15 percent to 20 percent, he said. And by using herbicides on the canola, he said, they can clean up weed problems.