Is there any skill in growing an economically viable crop of OSR?

[ajd132]

I do appreciate fixed costs are most farmers problem but please note that figure is not just fixed costs it is also those other amounts of money people forget to find a place for in the reality accounts!! Do please also take into account mosts growers do not take a crop of OSR to harvest so there is also the re-establishment costs of the second crop(variable machinery costs etc)

everything has to be in the fixed costs

 

[Farmer Roy]

https://www.facebook.com/131393923724111/posts/1385619531634871

 

[ollie989898]

I suppose you could sow OSR in combination with a couple of other species, evaluate the crop in spring and see if you have a worthwhile crop- using Richard's system- herbicide and maybe one fungicide and go from there? If it's a no-go then you have an established cover crop that was sat their all winter and your drilling costs have remained unchanged anyway? We just need companion species that will germinate and grow away nicely to cover the ground but which are easily removed in spring. Maybe these exotic seed mixtures are the future after all?

 

[Farmer Roy]

 

[Blaithin]

I suppose you could sow OSR in combination with a couple of other species, evaluate the crop in spring and see if you have a worthwhile crop- using Richard's system- herbicide and maybe one fungicide and go from there? If it's a no-go then you have an established cover crop that was sat their all winter and your drilling costs have remained unchanged anyway? We just need companion species that will germinate and grow away nicely to cover the ground but which are easily removed in spring. Maybe these exotic seed mixtures are the future after all?

Here the main companion of canola is peas. Never heard of many peas there but maybe try some with beans? However I don’t know anything about your varieties of beans.

Biggest reason people don’t want to do peaola here is they lose their post emergence spray options. Shouldn’t be an issue there with no GMO.

 

[ollie989898]

Here the main companion of canola is peas. Never heard of many peas there but maybe try some with beans? However I don’t know anything about your varieties of beans.

Biggest reason people don’t want to do peaola here is they lose their post emergence spray options. Shouldn’t be an issue there with no GMO.

Here nobody wants to use any pre-emergence chemistry as it is expensive and they don't know if they will get a worthwhile crop until spring! Funny old world really.

 

[Devil's advocate]

View attachment 902466

Are you allowed seed dressing?

 

[Blaithin]

Here nobody wants to use any pre-emergence chemistry as it is expensive and they don't know if they will get a worthwhile crop until spring! Funny old world really.

Oh pre emergence is quite common here as well, although more likely for cereal crops. The entire point of the big GMO varieties of canola here is they are RR or LL so can be sprayed post emergence.