Climate change reduces oil content in Canada's canola

Canadian canola to yield less oil in 2024. Oil content in western Canadian canola is below the 10-year average, according to the Canadian Grain Commission. When the Canadian Grain Commission looked at the average oil content of the samples it submitted for 2024, it came back at 42.6 percent. This year’s average isn’t as bad as 2021, when a severe drought reduced the oil yield to 41.3 percent, but the reports are well below the 10-year average, Robert Arnason wrote in an article published in the Canadian online agricultural journal Alberta Farmer Express: “The reason for the low oil content is quite simple, says Veronique Barthes, manager of the oilseed monitoring program at the Grain Commission. Hot, dry weather in July and August, especially warm nights, prevented canola plants from producing oil inside the seeds: “Cool nights give the crop time to recover. That hasn’t happened this year. So oil content is lower… The good news? It’s not as low as 2021, and 90 percent of samples ...