Rapeseed

The cultivation of rapeseed as a crop for the production of edible oil and animal feed has a short history compared to cereals and vegetables. It was not until the development of new varieties of rapeseed in the 1970s and 1980s, which were more digestible for humans and animals, that the commercial and large-scale cultivation of rapeseed as a source of edible oil became lucrative. Until then, rapeseed could only be used for the production of technical oil. Since then, a large number of different rapeseed varieties have been developed, whose properties in terms of yield and robustness have been increasingly optimised.

The importance of rapeseed as a crop

Today, rapeseed is a globally cultivated crop with great importance for the production of oils for technical use as well as for edible oils and animal feed. In recent decades, the production of biofuel from rapeseed has been added and is now the main use of rapeseed. The most important producers of rapeseed are Canada, China, India and the European Union. When cultivating rapeseed for commercial use, as with any crop, the respective requirements of the plant in terms of soil conditions, climate and location must be taken into account. The time of sowing and harvesting must also be taken into account. In addition to these factors, the professional harvesting process of the rapeseed plants has a major influence on the yield of the harvest. If the rapeseed field is not mown with the appropriate mowers and rapeseed cutters, the yield of the rapeseed harvest may be too low. The harvesting phase and the mower used for this purpose is therefore an aspect of oilseed rape cultivation that cannot be given enough attention. Like any commercially grown, large-scale crop, oilseed rape is harvested with high-performance mowers.