Bad image for canola

[Ajax]

It would seem to me that canola is getting a real raking over the coals. I see even Hostess has annouced a move away from canola to sunflower. I have talked to lots of people that don't want to use margerine but now see butter as healthier product.

I think the Canola council needs to get some repair work going before we start to loose our markets, makeing it a second rate product. Also we need to show consumers some of the designer canola out there that have significantly improve the oil quality for specific processes.

Ajax

[WoolyBear]

Its a knee jerk industry (Farm that is). Everytime someone bad mouths food, whether its like Adkins, e-coli, TransFats, manufacturing problems, or the way someone looks out of their third eye........ our industry has to go on the defensive. Its another guilty until proven innocent story where anyone with the bucks to do and release a "Research Study" can slant it anyway they want.

There are many more things that we do as individuals or as a populus that is more harmful than eatting what we eat....... In fact I am sure there are more deaths due to "Worrying about everything" than we are led to believe.

[Ajax]

That's right but look at what Atkins has done to the potato industy. Trendy research or not I think that there needs to be some damage control done here.

[nw9flynn]

I think that canola is making strides with the non-transfat oils coming on the market this year. I would not get in too much of a panic. It is not lack of consumer demand that has prices in the toilet but the over supply due to soybeans and palm oil from over production in other countries.

[TOM4CWB]

nw9flynn,

I think it is good that we realise what we grow has an end use.

Do we grow products for consumers that they want, or just for the maximum profit possible on our farm?

IMHO Part of being a grain farmer, is knowing what we grow is top quality, healthy, and actually good for those who will consume the products we grow.

Nexera,
HEAR,
IMC,

It is easier to justify using up some hard earned equity (if we must)on producing grain we can be proud of...

"We need to grow for a market, not market what we grow!"

[melvill]

I notice that consumers are becoming more aware of what's "in" food. For instance, many or most canola-based margarines contain hydrogenated oils which means trans-fats. There seems to be an opinion that transfats are "worse" for our health than some "natural" saturated fats like butter. Note also that beef contains transfats which are different than the transfats in hydrogenaged oils.

Tom, your comment that "We need to grow for a market, not market what we grow!" is oh, so true. How do we get that message into farm manager's thinking before price forces it in?

[Lifer]

If we grow something people actually want do we not have a better chance to profit

[charliep]

Lifer - Maybe I will turn the question around and ask if prairie farmers grow something people don't want, what is the chance for profit.

Our issue on the specialty oils is not producing enough to satisfy the market. My understanding is that most of the specialty oil is being used in the processing and very little is reaching the consumer level directly.

The question for all of you as a managers is the price times yield minus expenses. Each of you will have your own answer as to profitability.

Finally, I don't necessarily worry about a 10 MMT canola crop. It is interesting to note that some of years of highest canola production have had the highest prices. As has been noted, canola follows outside prices (soybeans/products, palm oil, etc.) and this has the most impact on prices. Our challenge is to develop markets. I have the priviledge of working with the Canola Council and the provincial growers associations and can highlight they are working very hard at this.

[Lifer]

Charlie I was responding to Tom's statement.

"Do we grow products for consumers that they want, or just for the maximum profit possible on our farm?"

I don't understand how we can maximize profit without people actually wanting what we grow.

I would think that if we are in the mindset of growing a product rather then a commodity we are already ahead.

High quality food grade oil is something that people want.

[Ajax]

I guess my point to the discussion was do we need to worry about getting the customer back on track or let the market slide away from us. I believe that we shouldn't be marketing hydrogenated canola in our margerine, and that will soon be a thing of the past, but I wouldn't want to see the city slicker shy away from canola from ignorance to use someone elses product.

I think that canola has been marketed as one of the healthier products, I wouldn't want to loose that image. I'd like to see this 'nipped in the bud'.

Ajax

[charliep]

Thanks for your comments.

I still like to look at labels when I shop at the grocery store. A fact I learned at Alberta canola growers meetings is than non hydroginated does not necessarily mean they have used Nexera or Inter mountain - it just means the oil has been processed differently (would have to dig further to put the exact terminology around - you have an economist versus a chemist).

The second thing to watch for is the return of palm oil/other tropical oils in margarines. Hydrogination is a process that allows canola/other oils to solidify in margarine type products. It brings up issues in canola of more saturated fats in canola products like margarine.

I find the whole area of watching trends around vegetable oils/health properties pretty confusing. A resource person I find very useful is Simone Demers Collins (Alberta Canola Producers Commission). The issue is to understand these factors as best we can as an industry and position canola in the most advantageous way.

[charliep]

When I commented on palm oils/other tropical oils/cottonseed, I should have indicated this processed can be used instead of hydrogination. This potentially creates new challenges down the road.

[Lifer]

I'm not sure what has to be repaired.

I don't see Canola getting a bad image out of what is happening.

All I see is opportunity. We have the best quality salad oil on the market. We have the best quality frying oil. Our oil can be used in other umpteen different non food uses.

How do we as a canola industry respond to these opprtunities?

So what if Hostess decides to use Sunflower oil, long term we are in a good position. We don't need to sell to everyone.

[charliep]

This thread got me thinking about the differences between trans fats and saturated fats (still confuses me). So I did a google search.

A couple of articles I came up with (there are many more):

http://health.discovery.com/encyclopedias/1922.html

http://www.mercola.com/2001/jul/21/trans_fat.htm

Just as a matter of curiousity, do your families shop specifically for healthier type vegoils and magarine? What kinds of questions do you get asked by city relatives/friends regarding oil characturistics/health trends?

[r.reid]

E-mail the Canadian Canola Council. Ask them what they have planned. I did.