Rotations for yield

A recent Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada study found that growing peas and, to a lesser degree, lentils the year prior to canola can enhance canola yield. Study results showed a significant and consistent yield advantage when canola was grown on pea compared to wheat stubble. The 2-year study also found that growing canola on canola resulted in statistically significant reductions in canola yield at Beaverlodge and Lethbridge. Results from other locations also showed trends towards reduced canola yields but differences were not statistically significant.

Crop insurance data from Manitoba and Alberta for 2000-10 provides more evidence that canola on canola will reduce yields. In a presentation from 2011, Murray Hartman, Alberta Agriculture canola specialist, and Anastasia Kubinec, Manitoba Agriculture oilseed specialist, used crop insurance data to show that canola on canola stubble yielded 15% to 20% lower, on average, than canola on wheat and barley stubble. Not only that, but the crop insurance data showed that yields for canola on canola are actually declining.