Canola is Australia’s third largest grain crop and is known for its value as a break crop for weed and disease management, and for its profitability when managed well. Despite these accepted benefits, growers and advisers across the country were rightly concerned about managing the risks and high relative costs of growing canola, especially in the face of more variable seasonal conditions.

In 2014, the GRDC co-invested in a five year program of research across eastern Australia that aimed to equip growers with tactical agronomy strategies for canola, underpinned by world-leading crop physiology research. The collaborative research team comprised CSIRO, NSW DPI and collaborators in four eastern mainland states using 60 field experiments and detailed physiological studies across nine regions. The team focused on gaining a thorough understanding of factors driving crop growth, development, flowering time, yield formation and response to stress to provide tips and tactics to improve canola profit and reduce risk.

Issues resolved by the research include:

• What drives different flowering times in canola varieties in different regions?
• How do I know what varieties I can sow early with success?
• What’s the most cost-effective way to increase profit – sowing date, variety, N, seeding rate?
• Does canola have a “critical period” when it is most sensitive to stress?
• When is the best time for canola to flower on my farm?
• When is the best time to windrow for highest yield and oil?