The Northern Canola Growers Association held its annual election of officers at its recent meeting in Rugby. Officers elected for 2008 were Ryan Pederson of Rolette as President, Tom Borgen of Langdon as Vice President and Kevin Waslaski of Langdon as Secretary/Treasurer.

Additional members of the NCGA board include: Greg Mitchell, Rolla; Bernie Bachman, Langdon; Jon Wert, New England; Eric Mack, Velva; Wally Brandjord, Bottineau; Keith Peltier, Fargo; Brian Jenks, Minot and Chad Effertz, Velva.

The Northern Canola Growers Association is a nonprofit association made up of producers, industry representatives and associate members. The Northern Canola Growers Association works to promote and encourage the establishment and maintenance of conditions favorable to the production, marketing, processing, research and use of canola.

On Monday, March 31st, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual Projected Plantings Report for the U.S. The survey revealed that U.S. farmers plan to decrease canola acres by 15 percent to 1,010,000 acres.

Acreage in the largest canola producing state, North Dakota, is expected to drop to 920,000 acres, down from 1,080,000 acres last year. Production in other states is expected to decrease to 90,000 acres.

The Risk Management Agency recently announced the 2008 Projected Harvest Price for RA canola at $29.30 per hundredweight. This is an increase of $14.10 from last year. Growers are encouraged to contact their crop insurance agents to determine the dollar amounts of coverage they can obtain based on this price. The price election for RA on canola is higher than the Multi-Peril (MPCI) price election of $24.23 recently announced for 2008. Producers are reminded to sign up by March 15.

The USDA Risk Management Agency today issued an additional Actual Production History (APH) price election of $24.23 per cwt. for spring planted canola. This is an increase of $10.93 from the $13.30 election announced last year.