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A General Overview of the Uses and Benefits of Camelina in Canadian Agriculture

Also known as false flax, Camelina is a type of oilseed that actually belongs to the same family as the mustard seed. It is a crop that originated in Europe but was brought to North America where it grows easily in the wide variety of climates and soil conditions available here. In fact, the Camelina crop has actually done really well on the Canadian prairie. For this reason, Camelina is one of the fastest growing crops in Canadian agriculture.

 

The growing season for Camelina is actually pretty short, meaning that it requires less than one hundred days to go from a planted seed to a plant in full maturity. Camelina also tolerates frost quite well and can grow in places where less hardy crops can not. The frost tolerance is a feature that is really important in Canadian agriculture and makes Camelina seed an attractive crop. Camelina can be planted in a rotation with other Winter crops and will certainly still be able to provide you with a good yield.

Over thousands of years, humans have found a number of important uses for Camelina in their agriculture. Archaeologists have actually uncovered evidence that Camelina Smart Earth Seeds have been a part of the diet of human beings for thousands of years. Romans for instance, used Camelina oil not only in their diet, but also as a massage oil and in their lamps because they enjoyed the fragrance of it so much. Camelina oil has also been used as fuel in various parts of Europe, including in Russia, until gas and electricity became the primary source of energy in people's homes. But because the hydrogenation of canola oil  is less costly that the process of hydrogenating Camelina oil, European farmers stopped growing large quantities of Camelina seeds.

 

These days there are many different uses for Camelina seeds, especially in Canada, where they have been approved to be used in poultry feed, specifically as feed for broiler chickens. The CFIA or Canadian Food Inspection Agency has recently found that Camelina meal is approved for use as feed for broiler chickens. This basically means that Camelina meal will be in high demand by the poultry industry, which means Canadian growers should take a closer look at this high yield crop. 

 

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the opportunities that are available to growers in the Canadian agricultural markets concerning Camelina meal should take a moment to visit the website on a Canadian agricultural company. When Canadian growers visit the website of an agricultural company, they will learn everything they need to know to get started planting and selling this remarkable crop. If you want to visit a good website to help you find the information abut adding Camelina into your Winter crop rotation, all you really need to do is search the web for a Canadian agricultural company.

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