The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

What is this crop?

Maybe you can identify this crop for me? I saw it between Bowman ND and Baker MT Thursday.



9 comments:

larry kurtz said...

It's mustard, Bob.

Beautiful photos.

Bob Newland said...

Sho' 'nuff is. That occurred to me, but I had never even heard of anyone growing it around here.

larry kurtz said...

We grew it along side flax, red clover and alfalfa. Dad loved the colors and the honey it all produced.

borlaug said...

Maybe mustard, there's a chance it could be camelina. Camelina sativa is also in the mustard family, and like mustard, has many florets of four yellow petals.

It may be camelina because of the intense interest in Montana to cultivate biodiesel crops.

https://www.camelinacompany.com/Default.aspx
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1438

jim said...

Looks like Canola to me. Did it stink(like a dead skunk) if so, that's what it is.

Bob Newland said...

I noticed no unpleasant odors from this field. I think Kurtz is right. I believe it's mustard.

Bob Newland said...

Borlaug? I went to high school with Norman Borlaug's son.

Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009)[1] was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution".[2] Borlaug was one of only six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.[3] He was also a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor. (from Wikipedia)

I doubt you're Bill Borlaug, so I assume you adopted the name because you at least have a passing knowledge of Norman Borlaug's importance. The product of his life's work resulted in the feeding of more people than all government subsidies ever paid out.

It was nice seeing the allusion embedded in a screen name.

I looked at google images of camelina. I don't think it's camelina.

Anonymous said...

hey, I wish they would call it 'mustard' in the UK - over here they call it 'oilseed rape' and it's EVERYWHERE!!!

Bob Newland said...

Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rappi, rapaseed and (in the case of one particular group of cultivars, canola) is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family). The name derives from the Latin for turnip, rāpum or rāpa, and is first recorded in English at the end of the 14th century.

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_napus

And I'm so excited to hear from someone claiming to be in the UK that I'm making an exception to the "Anonymous" rule. This time.

UK, what led you to the Forum?