Ga. offer close to world prices for Georgia-grown canola. University of Georgia agronomist Paul Raymer, pictured above, said he and other UGA scientists are working to learn more about the crop to help Georgia famers who want to include this oilseed in their crop rotation. Farmers grow grain crops mostly as openly marketed commodities. Companies with special needs, though, sometimes offer contracts for farmers to grow a certain amount of a specific type of grain. When Calgene, the major contractor for canola in the state, offered no new contracts to Georgia farmers, the crop's future here looked bleak.
Most canola is grown in Canada.
The crop is struggling to catch on in the Southeast, where it is grown mainly in the coastal plain from Alabama to South Carolina. But in most years, the price offered was below the world price. Harvested canola is delivered to a processing plant, where the oil is extracted from the seed in a crushing process. The result is two products, oil and meal. The meal is used in livestock rations.