WA canola varieties planted in the 2017 growing season

There was an 18% increase in the WA canola area in the 2017 growing season, but a decrease in the area of most other grains. There was a large (28%) increase in canola sown in the Esperance zone, a moderate increase in Kwinana and Albany zones but a 10% decrease in the area sown in Geraldton, reflecting seasonal conditions at sowing.

In the 2017 growing season, approximately 78% of the WA canola area was planted to open pollinated Triazine Tolerant (TT) varieties. This was highest in the Esperance port zone and a lowest in the Geraldton port zone (91% and 46%, respectively). Of the total TT canola area, less than 2% was planted to hybrid varieties in 2017.

The most widespread canola variety grown in 2017, was the open pollinated variety ATR Bonito. The proportion of ATR Bonito grown increased from 38% in 2016 to 54% in 2017. Historically, this is the second highest proportion of any canola variety grown in WA, only topped by plantings of Surpass 501TT back in 2013, at 57% of the WA canola area.

Another open pollinated TT variety, ATR Stingray was the second most common variety in 2017, at 13%. Hyola 559TT remained the most commonly grown hybrid TT variety, at only 0.6% of the canola area.

There was a reduction in the proportion of Roundup Ready canola, from 23% in 2016 to 18% in 2017. This was largely due to an increase in the hectares of TT canola sown in 2017, as well as a decrease in the hectares of Roundup Ready canola sown particularly in the Geraldton zone. The proportion of Roundup Ready canola remained highest in the Geraldton zone, which was 61% in 2016 but dropped to 53% in 2017.

The most commonly grown Roundup Ready varieties in 2017 were Pioneer 43Y23 RR, Hyola 404RR and Nuseed GT-50RR.

The proportion of Clearfield canola planned for WA dropped to 1.3% in 2017. Pioneer 45Y88 (CL) was the most commonly grown Clearfield variety in 2017.