ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 1, 2010

PLANTING EXTENSION SOUGHT ON CANOLA POLICIES

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has asked federal regulators to extend the canola planting season in crop insurance policies to give growers more flexibility and to reduce the government’s potential liability.

"New varieties and practices continue to improve yields and enhance the quality of the crop,” Goehring said. “Recent trials indicate that canola can be planted later in the spring than in years past with the same or better yields.”

In a letter to William Murphy, administrator of the Risk Management Agency (RMA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Goehring said extending canola’s final planting dates by five to seven days, as requested by the  National Canola Growers Association’s (NCGA), would reduce the number of prevented planting claims.

"In addition, fewer producers would lose a percentage of their insurance coverage by exceeding planting date deadlines,” he said.

Federal crop insurance policies set the dates during which producers can plant crops covered by the policies. The producer is penalized by exceeding the policy’s final planting date.

North Dakota’s 2009 canola acreage was more than 700,000 acres, of which 98 percent were insured. 

"I understand that RMA has asked to the canola growers to hold off their request for a year because of the work overload at the agency’s Kansas City office,” Goehring said. “I have therefore asked that the request be granted for the 2011 crop year.”

North Dakota is the nation’s leading canola-growing state, producing 90 percent of the U.S. total in 2009.

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MEDIA: For more information, please contact Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2231 or tquanrud@nd.gov.