OILSEED
Dryland
farmers of the summer rainfall belt, crop significant quantities of
sunflowers for the edible oil seed industry. Quick growing varieties
have been developed and can survive a large variety of soil types.
Farmers with lighter sandy soils have a better chance of success with
sunflowers than with grain sorghum if they require a summer cash
crop. The major pests are Galahs and cockatoos. The yield is only
about half that expected from grain sorghum, however, as the market
potential is good they are a good proposition in the summer rainfall
belt.
Other
oilseed crops include canola, soybeans and safflower. Sunflower and
soybeans are summer crops while the others are winter crops. In
Australia oilseeds are crushed for their oil which is used for edible
and industrial purposes and for protein meal in livestock feed.
The
1990s saw the emergence of canola as the main oilseed crop with
production increasing from about 70 000 tonnes in 1990-91 to a high
of 2.5m tonnes in 1999-00. Canola production accounted for over 95%
of the total Australian oilseed crop of 907 000 tonnes in 2002-03.
Before
the emergence of canola the main specialist oilseed crop was
sunflower seed. Peanuts and cotton are alo major sources of oil as a
by product to their main output which is food and fibre respectively.