Growing oilseed rape
Most of Pure Oil NZ's oilseed rape is grown on fixed price contracts with farmers throughout New Zealand. Contracts are made available in the months leading up to the autumn and spring sowing windows.
Benefits of growing oilseed rape:
- Rests the ground from continuous cereal crops
- Improves the soil structure
- An opportunity to control grasses, especially herbicide resistant grass weeds
- Provides a break crop to disrupt cereal pest and disease cycles
- Input requirement similar to cereals
- Early drilling and harvesting spreads the work loads
- An effective take-all break as an entry to higher-yielding first cereal crops, providing grass weed control is good
- Fixed price contracts increase financial security
- Split payments following harvest improves cash flow
- Grower support through discussion groups and specialist agronomic advice
- Seed cost not incurred until harvest
Crop Agronomy
Pure Oil New Zealand’s agronomy team provides on-farm agronomic advice and works closely with merchants to ensure our growers are supported throughout the growing season. To encourage best practice, we facilitate grower groups within regions, providing opportunities for famers to meet every few months to discuss crop progress and share their experiences. Our "timely Advice newsletters include reminders about crop monitoring and key timings for crop applications.
SCID Scheme
Pure Oil New Zealand is an active member of the Seed Crop Isolation Distance (SCID) scheme and contract crops are entered on SCID to manage any isolation distance required from any specialist seed crops in an area. We are also members of the New Zealand Grain and Seed Trade Association.
Grower Base
Our contract grower base is building in line with steady growth in our sales of oil and meal. We are committed to developing it further and anyone considering growing oilseed rape is encouraged to contact us.
