How an experiment turned Canadian farmers into cooking oil kings

In the heart of Canada's bread basket, a Richardson International Ltd. processing plant stands as a testament to what may be the country's most successful agricultural experiment.Farmers across the Prairie Provinces are planting a record acres of canola, a crop that didn't exist about four decades ago but now is the nation's biggest, sown on more land than spring wheat. Richardson was the first company to market canola oil. It has since expanded capacity at factories like the one in Lethbridge, Alberta, as global demand exploded and Canada became the top exporter of an oilseed used in everything from salad dressing to french fries.Richardson's facility now spans six square blocks -- a warren of crushing machines, conveyor belts, railroad links and grain silos devoted entirely to canola. After a C$120 million ($89 million) upgrade to expand capacity by 55 percent, it will be able to process 700,000 metric tons annually, boosting exports of oil and related products including margarine and buttery popcorn topping."It's almost a constant turnover" of jugs, barrels and bottles of oil shipped to grocers, fast-food restaurants, hospitals and bakers every day of the work week, said Steve Scott, the plant's maintenance manager. Pointing to a tanker car capable of hauling 80 tons, he said, "a big potato-chip plant will be taking a couple of these a week."Canadian scientists invented canola in 1974 by breeding out undesirable traits from the rapeseed plant, though it didn't get the name "canola" until 1978.The seed has more than twice as much oil as a soybean, and canola oil has become popular in cooking and deep frying. It's rich in heart-healthy fatty acids found in salmon and tuna that lower bad cholesterol and help control blood sugar, with no artery-clogging trans fats. Canola oil has about 7 percent saturated fat, about half as much as olive oil and a fraction of what's in palm oil, according to the Canola Council of Canada."The healthy oil profile that canola enjoys is going to keep it popular," said David Reimann, a market analyst in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for Cargill Ltd., the world's largest agricultural company. "It's a huge, huge market and can certainly tolerate a lot more acreage and production."Farmers are doing just that. While planting is a little behind schedule because of wet weather, Canadian growers eventually will sow 22 million acres of canola this year, the most ever, government data show. The planting season will end in a few weeks.