There were no incredible yields to report through the Canola King and Commodity King programs because a very challenging seeding season resulted in the decision to suspend the competitions in June, said Parker Summers, president and general manager of Prairie Soil Services.
The annual competitions were started years earlier by Hudye Soil Services and the intention was to continue with the programs when Prairie Soil Services took over the business, he said.
Very dry conditions and frost made the 2015 seeding season extremely challenging, said Summers. After June 1, most of the canola in the region had to be re-seeded and conditions were not promising. In June, it was decided to suspend the competitions and just hope that it would be possible to harvest any crop that season.
However, the rains came in July and area producers were fortunate to grow some good crops, he said.
To give some idea of the crops that were produced through the competitions in previous years, the Effa-Toffan Farms near Norquay won the Canola King competition in 2014 reporting a yield of 71.57 bushels per acre. The same year, Lindgren Farms of Norquay won the Commodity King competition by locking in the winning price of $10.09 per bushel of canola.
