For wildflower hunters venturing out Wheatbelt way this spring the shimmering crops of canola flanking our country roads offer quite the distraction – the paddocks paved in gold often demanding more attention than the elusive orchids or the sought-after sundews. It’s true the sheer volume of yellow elicits a sharp intake of breath – even for the initiated, and this year the stars are surely shining for our farmers with a favorable set of conditions including record rainfall producing remarkable results.
For the Sadler family south-east of Wongan Hills, canola is a relative newcomer in their 100 years of farming history. When Rowan, Billie and Maggie Sadler’s great, great grandfather cleared the land that now forms a family farming enterprise of generations working alongside each other – it was all about the wheat and sheep. Now, their parents Darren and Georgie focus on cropping, with canola and lupins representing 25% of their annual yield.
“We’re pretty much straight cropping on all the arable country, which certainly pays the bills. So, it’s pretty healthy living at the moment – and the season is looking really good,” says Darren.
Originating in Canada (hence the name can-ola, “Canadian oil, low acid”), canola was developed from rapeseed by removing undesirable compounds (erucic acid and glucosinolates) and was introduced into the Wheatbelt as an alternative oilseed crop back in the 1970s. Early uptake was slow because Canadian varieties weren’t well suited to WA’s dry, variable climate, but by the 1990s plant breeding programs, including WA-specific varieties made canola more reliable and growers started to see it as a valuable rotation crop for wheat, barley, and lupins.
While commercial production of genetically modified (GM) canola began in Canada in 1999, the introduction of GM plants was debated for another decade in WA before the herbicide-tolerant GM versions were permitted in 2010 – encouraging large-scale adoption in the Wheatbelt. Yet still, you can’t grow canola without chemicals, and after a consult with his agronomist, Darren will decide what fungicides and sprays he’ll need to combat the other effects of all that lovely rain.
“So, we’re spraying periodically throughout the year – and we’ve got all the different herbicide mixes that you can spray in crop – so you can kill radish in wheat or the ryegrass in lupins and/or in GM canola of course you can spray glyphosate,” explains Darren.
“What’s really exciting is the new technology coming out now, where drones enable highly targeted chemical application– meaning you can reduce the overall amount of blanket spraying and only deliver what’s needed, and where.”
The advancements in the yellow gold have certainly proven productive, and as Australia’s largest canola-producing state, WA now accounts for more than 50% of the nation’s output. Most of it exported as oilseed, cooking oil, and biodiesel feedstock to Europe, Japan and China.
With 280 millimetres of rain already recorded this year, including 70 mm in August alone, Darren says his canola and lupins are bouncing out of the ground. He estimates he’ll produce close to two tonnes per hectare from this year’s harvest to add to the Western Australian annual export of between 2 and 3 million tonnes – a production worth $1.2 billion per year to our state’s economy.
While his own farming history, which began driving a chaser bin at the original Danubin Farm aged 12, is but one slice of the family’s, Darren has every intention of continuing the legacy, hoping one of his children might take up an interest in the farm.
“Dad was really good at succession planning – he split his farm between me and my sister and retired to Wongan. Jemma kept the sheep, but I got rid of them – just not my thing!”
As extended family and neighbours gather to celebrate the centenary, Darren says it’s a chance to reflect on how far they’ve come – and how resilience coupled with an openness to emerging science and technology has enabled them to continue to grow through four generations.
“My great-grandfather came here in 1925. A hundred years on, we’re still farming the same country. It’s a big thing for our family.”
