Nestled in the rolling farmland of central Washington is the small, un-assuming town of Odessa. Established in 1902, primarily by immigrants with central and eastern European heritage, Odessa’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture. Despite being a low rainfall area (9-11 inches annually), the area is blessed to have access to deep-well water resources. Driving through the countryside, one sees a range of crops- from potatoes to alfalfa, and of course, the region’s staple, soft white winter wheat. In recent years, yellow fields of winter canola have become more common as farmers diversify rotations to supply Viterra’s mechanical oilseed crush plant in Warden, Washington.

As the spring progressed into early summer, Greg Walter, with the Schoonover Hutterian Brethren, knew their farming operation had some pretty good looking canola in the making. Despite a brutal cold snap in January, where the mercury dropped to -6.3°F, winds gusted up to 25 mph (AgWeatherNet, 2024), and no snow cover, the hybridized non-GM winter canola genetics from Rubisco Seeds came through with excellent stands and plant architecture. Always looking to take yields to the next level of profitability and sustainability, the Schoonover’s enrolled their winter canola fields in a regenerative ag program designed by Michael Nestor, CCA, regenerative agronomist and owner of Sterling Valley Agronomy. Michael has been working with spring and winter canola in the Pacific Northwest since 2005, and maintains that “managing the winter canola from a regenerative perspective finally allowed us to break through the yield barrier; we were able to reduce inputs and still push quality and yield.”

“It all starts with the seed,” says Michael. “Rubisco Seeds has some of the best dry land emergence and winter survival. We have to seed this crop deep in dry years and Rubisco Seeds understands this and is selecting for varieties that can tolerate our hot/dry fall seeding conditions.”

This combination of genetics and refined production agronomy had produced pod-laden canopies with exceptional uniformity that looked destined for the record books. Record yields of Rubisco Seeds’ winter canola genetics have previously been observed throughout the US and Canada since 2010. Most recently in 2023, Momentum Grain Inc., located close to Moorefield in the Canadian province of Ontario, officially recorded 107.36 bushels (50 lb basis) per acre of a Rubisco Seeds winter canola hybrid in the Ontario Canola Growers Association annual yield contest- a tremendous yield for non-irrigated winter canola production. With that in mind, Washington State University’s oilseed agronomist, Jesse Ford, provided third-party documentation of the Schoonover’s field yields at harvest. Three 5-acre replications were harvested and delivered a whopping average of 113.8 bushels per acre. Multiple observations of record winter canola yields globally are in the archives - the Hawkins family from New South Wales, Australia with 127.8 bushels per acre; Richard Budd of Kent, UK with 128.3 bushels per acre; and Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire Wolds, UK, with 125.1 bushels per acre. Subtle differences in harvest moisture content will influence the actual yield positioning of these records. The Schoonover’s canola crop puts Washington State, USA firmly on the world map of record yields. The oil content of this impressive Washington crop came in at 46% (5% H2O basis), equating it to 340 US gallons per acre of premium canola oil, with wide applications in the food industry or as feedstock for renewable diesel (RD)/ sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Highly contested debates will likely continue on the merits of using crops for either food or fuel. In central Washington, the real story here is crystallized in the canola production numbers, as farmers continue to innovate and leverage every tool at their disposal to optimize crop output whilst maintaining sustainability.