III Training Courses on Canola

In order to demonstrate the advantages of canola crop the III Course of Training and Diffusion of Technology in canola was held on March 4 and 5 in the auditorium of Embrapa Trigo, in Passo Fundo. It was promoted by the Pólo de Biodiesel Planalto Nordeste, BSBIOS and DRS Biofuels. The objective was to diffuse the crop providing information to producers and technicians of the whole region.

Perfect in the system of crop rotation, canola is still new for the majority of the producers in the region. The development work achieved by BSBIOS in partnership with other entities like EMATER and EMBRAPA, led it to become more attractive to gauchos fields. In this third year of development of the vegetable oil crop, BSBIOS expects to double the area for the crop in the region.

According to the director of operations BSBIOS, Erasmo Carlos Battistella, the goal is to reach the growth of 15 thousand hectares of canola in the region. The value is superior to the value of the previous year when 7 thousand hectares were planted, another record before the 3.5 thousand of last year.

For this year, the company gained a new ally: rural zoning. Approved last year, the agriclimatic zoning guarantees financing and rural insurance for the crop, therefore, probably being the great responsible for the enlargement of the area.

Besides, the technological advances in planting and harvesting of canola might also collaborate to expand the producers' investment in the crop. Among them is the development of technologies for sowing and harvest as well, with new equipments for cut and windrowing. The investments in research increased the productivity of the plant, thanks to the reduction of losses in the moment of the harvest. "Besides the volume, we gained in grain quality" he argues.

For Battistella, canola is the winter crop due to its functional similarities, cultural use and in commercialization. "It is a good winter option with good market and price guaranteed", he emphasizes. Besides integrating perfectly to the system of crop rotation, it has the advantage of having guaranteed sale. He highlights that BSBIOS can guarantee the sale of the production with pre-defined price based on the cost of production or using a flexible price linked to soybean price.