Just for Kids

All about canola

Did you go on a long car trip this summer? If you did, you might have seen huge fields filled with sunny yellow flowers. These are canola fields. This crop has been around since the 1970s and scientists and farmers created it by carefully choosing and growing the best plants. Now farmers across Western Canada grow canola for its healthy oils.

After the yellow flowers bloom, the canola plants make seed pods that look a bit like tiny pea pods. In each pod is a row of teeny black canola seeds. Farmers send the seeds to a factory to be crushed. The machines collect and filter the valuable oil, which makes up about 40 per cent of the seed. The other parts of the seeds are turned into high-protein animal food.

Canola oil is one of the healthiest oils around and people all over the world use it. The oil is made into many things we use every day. Look around your house and see if you can find these things. Many of them are made from canola.

•           cooking oil

•           margarine

•           hand cream

•           lip balm

•           magazine ink

•           bath oil

•           pet food

•           cake mixes

•           packaged cookies

•           bread

Did you know?

Canola can power your car. A small percentage of canola crops are made into biofuel and added to gasoline.