Brent Rendel wades through dew-damp plants hinting at an explosion of yellow flowers that is only days away. He smiles and agrees—yes, probably plenty of folks drive by and wonder what’s growing in those fields north of Miami, Okla.

Canola is far from common in this part of the world but then Rendel doesn’t always go about farming in a common way, either.

The operation, which runs side-by-side with that of his father, Mark, includes the usual suspects: wheat, beans, corn and milo. Rendel, however, doesn’t take for granted that those are his only—or even his best—options.

“Canola is an alternative to wheat,” he says. “An acre of canola is going to replace an acre of wheat so it has to make you more dollars per acre to be a viable alternative.

“It has some interesting advantages and, thinking in the long-term, I believe there will be more price stability in oilseeds so canola merits a good, hard look.”

Increasing demand from diet-conscious consumers has spurred interest in canola, which has the lowest saturated fat content of any available vegetable oil. Production has primarily been in the northern U.S. and Canada where spring varieties are grown.

Farther south, though, the productivity and value of the crop has inspired growers like Rendel, seedsmen and university researchers to work on its adaptation as an alternative to wheat.

This isn’t the first time Rendel has grown canola. In the late ‘90s, he tried it for three seasons with mixed results.

“It wasn’t working but I kept an eye on the research the universities were doing and the progress in variety development and decided it was time to try it again,” he explains.

Although Rendel wasn’t satisfied with his earlier canola results, only one of the three was a complete bust as atrazine carryover decimated the stand.

Canola’s challenges, he points out, begin with planting and end with harvesting. Unlike wheat, you can’t just dust it in and expect a good stand, he says. And, unlike wheat, you can’t run the combine across the standing crop and expect optimal results.

The planting window is much narrower than it is for wheat. Rendel believes the seed needs to be placed in the ground during the last half of September—not before and not after.

The potential for shattering at harvest is one of the biggest knocks against canola and, this year, Rendel will swath the crop and combine with a pickup attachment. That will give him a little more flexibility in terms of harvest timing and should help prop yields up.

“If you harvest standing canola you’d better do it exactly when it’s ready or you’ll suffer significant shattering losses,” Rendel explains. “By swathing, you can get in there a little bit earlier and the windrow helps protect the seed—it gives you a little more window at a busy time of the year.”

A member of the mustard family, canola develops a rosette of leaves at ground level. The rosette may die during the winter but the crown remains dormant and as warmer temperatures return it shoots up a stalk which begins flowering usually in early April.