Canola in Prairie Canada: Its Development as a Regional Crop and its Challenge to Wheat

Canola (Brassica napus), a variety of rapeseed used for edible vegetable oils, animal feed, and industrial oil products, is a relatively new addition to the repertoire of crops grown by farmers in the Canadian Prairies. Becoming common only after approximately 1960. Canadian canola production has been concentrated in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and has become a serious rival to wheat in terms of acreage and production levels. This paper examines the growth and development of this regional agricultural phenomenon from the poi nt of view of its location and distributional characteristics.