It’s not easy to make a profit farming. Growers must turn to crop
specialists and other sources for volumes of information to guide
their decision-making.

It’s no wonder many farmers often choose not to grow a new crop
when little is known about producing it.

“Most farmers are reluctant, even resistant, to grow a new crop
like canola due to a lack of experience,” said Randy Hudson, an
entomologist with the University of Georgia Extension Service.

“We designed a new program,” Hudson said, “to provide
farm-condition information that supports canola as a viable
alternative cash crop in Georgia.”

The Canola Check Program being introduced to new canola growers
is similar to a program from Australia.

“If farmers don’t have access to information from other farmers
about growing a new crop, they tend to shy away from it,” Hudson
said.

“Information from test plots gives us a good idea of what will
happen in real life,” he said. But most farmers prefer to know
how a crop grows under conditions like those in their own
fields.

Steve Meeks, a student at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,
is working for the Extension Service during the 1995-1996
program.

He does soil sampling, insect scouting and tissue collection
that, when analyzed, provide vital information to help farmers
make management decisions.

“I work with 32 farmers located from Hart County to Seminole
County,” Meeks said.

From the very beginning of their canola production experience,
those 32 farmers got help from Extension.

“We began working with them before they planted, sampling soils
for nutrients and giving recommendations for land preparation,”
Meeks said.

Finding out what nutrients are in the soil is an important start
for any crop. Farmers have to know what the soil has and needs to
support a crop. Any needed nutrients can be added after a proper
soil test.

The wide program area helps Hudson and participating farmers
learn how to make effective canola management decisions in all
parts of the state.

Weather can be important in growing canola. “We’re learning how
cold weather, in particular, affects canola at different growth
stages,” Hudson said.

Insects, fertility and disease problems vary according to
location as well, Hudson said. The information from the program
will help canola growers statewide make sound management
decisions.

Another important aspect of the Canola Check Program is profit
verification. Farmers will know exactly why they did or didn’t
make a profit.

“They’ll be able to see every management decision they made,”
Hudson said, “and know how it affected the crop. More important,
other farmers can see that, too.”

Meeks said he’s excited to be a part of this program, now in its
second year.

“I’m (helping farmers) know there’s another crop suitable to
Georgia as a cash crop besides the regular crops they grow (corn,
cotton, peanuts, rye or soybeans),” he said.

Hudson hopes the program will continue expanding into the
1996-1997 canola season.

“If this year goes as well as we expect,” he said, “our funding
should continue so we can further the growth of canola in the
state of Georgia.”

The county Extension office has more information about growing
canola and the Canola Check Program.

“This program helps growers make appropriate decisions during
canola production and gain confidence in the crop,” Hudson said.
“We supply the information through Steve’s work collecting and
getting samples to labs for analysis and through test plot data
we have.

“County agents work one-on-one with the farmers, but ultimately
the producer makes the management decisions and learns the most
from them,” he said.