About Canola

In a few decades, canola has become one of the world’s most important oilseeds and one of Canada’s leading crops. Today canola is a true “made-in-Canada” success story and the foundation of a thriving, sustainable industry.

What is Canola?

Canola is a plant - a member of a large family called crucifers. Included in the Brassica family, canola is related to kale, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and mustard. Crucifers are easy to identify as their four yellow flower petals form the shape of a cross.

Canola grows to a height of one to two metres and is ready to harvest in about 3 ½ months – depending on temperature, moisture, sunlight, and soil fertility. It is a cool season crop and grows particularly well on the Canadian prairies, where hot days and cool nights allow it to develop its unique fatty acid profile.

The yellow flowers produce narrow seed pods about 5 cm in length. There is an average of 60 to 100 pods per plant. Each seed pod contains from 20 to 30 tiny round seeds, about 1 mm in diameter.

After harvesting, the seeds are crushed to release the canola oil. Each seed contains about 45% oil – double that of soybeans.

Canada – primarily the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba – is the world’s top exporter of canola and one of its top producers.

Canola oil is used all over the world. It is the number one cooking oil used in Canada and Japan, and the number two oil in the United States and Mexico. Overall, it is the third most consumed oil in the world.

Canola oil = uniquely Canadian

Canola was developed by scientists in Saskatchewan and Manitoba over several decades of extensive research after identifying a need for a locally grown, healthy cooking oil. Researchers at the University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan used conventional plant breeding methods to develop a low erucic acid and low glucosinolate version of rapeseed. The result was “canola” – a combination of “Canada” and “ola” (meaning oil in Latin).