WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA — The 2011 Canadian canola crop was of fairly high quality, according to the Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) annual harvest quality report released on March 15.

A copy of the full report is available at www.grainscanada.gc.ca.

Of the 1,749 samples we analyzed, 87.8% were graded as No. 1, said Véronique Barthet, program manager of oilseeds for the CGC’s Grain Research Laboratory.

Researchers looked at several quality parameters including: oil content; protein content; chlorophyll content; glucosinolate content; and free fatty acid composition.

Harvest quality reports are used to market Canadian canola to domestic and export customers.

Quality data describe to export customers how Canadian canola will perform in various end-use products. For example, a crushing plant would be interested in the oil content of Canadian canola. A tonne of canola seed with higher oil content will be more profitable than a tonne of canola seed with lower oil content because the crusher is able to extract more oil from the higher oil content seed for the same processing cost.