Rapeseed, Rapa, Raps, Canola, Brassica napus

Rapeseed is a some weird cross between  (possibly) 2 different species of Brassica family, there are no wild Brassica napus known, though now days  it grows as an invasive specie pretty much everywhere. Nobody knows exactly when did this thing showed up(there is a story  that claims origins of rape to England of 17th century), but rapeseed oil  was first used to service engines in 19th century. I wouldn't recommend to consider rapeseed to be food since the side effects are pretty creepy.

Nice views  though. Today 62 countries are producing  rapeseed commercially. Canola oil became third largest vegetable oil source in the last decade. In 2009, 61 630 798 tons of rapeseed were produced worldwide, biggest crop ever. That's enough to give each human of 2009  9.05 kg of rapeseed (you can have my share). Still its enough to keep you alive for over 24 days .Worldwide , the crop  of rape could provide 459.3 million people with 2000 calories a day for a year, and there is enough protein for
700mln- 1 000 000 000 people. Green parts  of rape are edible too, though not included in these calculations.
About 40 to 44% of the weight is oil, and once pressed, the "cake " meal  is containing up to 48% of protein.
The meal is used widely to feed cattle ( sometimes hogs and poultry as well, but due  to specific chemicals  it contains  it is not as effective)  and  in some places it is used as a fertilizer. Oil is used for human consumption and biodiesel production. You can get about 900-950 liters of biodiesel from 1 hectare of Brassica napus.  You could drive  a 2011 A3 TDI well over 8000 miles  with that.

However one  does not  want to think about the cost of growing Brassica napus, damage to the soil, etc..
Among many other costs it would require about 110 kg of Nitrogen,  50 kg of Phosphorus, 100 kg of Potassium and 40 kg of Sulfur.  Rapeseed also needs up to 5 times more Boron,  Magnesium, Manganese, Calcium , than , for example , corn/maize.  Copper and especially Molybdenum are also critical if you want to have a good crop.

Biggest producer is China with 13 510 010 t  as of 2009. Biggest producer per capita is Canada with 11 825 400 t produced, that's  344.3 kg per Canadian. That's enough calories for over 2.5 years. 14.7% of all Canada's arable land is used  for rapeseed production.

31 023 788 hectares were used for rapeseed production in 2009(more than ever before, 1.97% of all arable land in the world), a territory slightly smaller by size than Poland , or slightly bigger than Oman.
There are many quotes over the Internet that India is allegedly using 13% of its arable land to produce rapeseed, but that is not true, only 4.26% of its arable land is used for Brassica napus.That's probably because over a half of India is considered to be arable land, with other half serving as residential areas and  industry/infrastructure. Real shame, India had such a beautiful and unique Nature.  No room for that anymore.
Yields. Best  rapeseed yield worldwide  was 1986.5 kg/ha in 2009, worst since  1961-- 536.1 kg/ha in 1963

List of all articles at Ironrye:
 http://ironrye.blogspot.com/2011/10/list-of-all-articles-at-iron-rye.html

Individual record yield belongs to Netherlands  (2004),  4643.9 kg/ha

Rapeseed costs around $670-700 per ton, as of today.  World crop is about $43-46 billion worth
Production, by country,                                                     2007                2008               2009

Algeria	Rapeseed	29000	*	29000			M
Argentina	Rapeseed	11230		20411		61167
Australia	Rapeseed	1214000		1844157		1910000
Austria	Rapeseed	144706		174592		171073
Bangladesh	Rapeseed	188880		227930		220000	*
Belarus	Rapeseed	240085		513959		610968
Belgium	Rapeseed	40495		33228		32000	*
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Rapeseed	3925		1992		1835
Brazil	Rapeseed	135000	*	170000	*	180000	F
Bulgaria	Rapeseed	93018		231176		235490
Canada	Rapeseed	9601100		12642900		11825400
Chile	Rapeseed	40908		66590		78501
China	Rapeseed	10572571		12102010		13500010
Colombia	Rapeseed		M		M		M
Croatia	Rapeseed	39330		62942		80424
Czech Republic	Rapeseed	1031920		1048943		1128119
Denmark	Rapeseed	588600		629200		634800
Estonia	Rapeseed	133600		111149		135992
Ethiopia	Rapeseed	29206		47721		38664	*
Finland	Rapeseed	113500		88900		139900
France	Rapeseed	4691098		4719053		5584100
Germany	Rapeseed	5320518		5154700		6306700
Greece	Rapeseed	6000		7000		6000	*
Hungary	Rapeseed	485901		654706		579365
India	Rapeseed	7438000		5834000		7201000
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Rapeseed	380000	*	390000	*	380000	*
Ireland	Rapeseed	31900		23400		22000
Italy	Rapeseed	14884		32659		50200
Japan	Rapeseed	1000	*	1000	*	1000	*
Kazakhstan	Rapeseed	118310		82690		140000	*
Kyrgyzstan	Rapeseed	232		122		188
Latvia	Rapeseed	196900		198500		204700
Lithuania	Rapeseed	311900		330200		415800
Luxembourg	Rapeseed	18302		16493		18132
Mexico	Rapeseed	4000	*	4000	*	4000	*
Morocco	Rapeseed	1000	*	1000	*	1000	*
Netherlands	Rapeseed	11800		9500		12000
New Zealand	Rapeseed	2000		2000	F		M
Norway	Rapeseed	9697		9500		10000	*
Pakistan	Rapeseed	368000		390000		276000
Paraguay	Rapeseed	80000		49854		48161
Poland	Rapeseed	2129873		2105840		2496825
Republic of Korea	Rapeseed	719		1225		1000	*
Republic of Moldova	Rapeseed	34180		95371		100000	F
Romania	Rapeseed	361500		673033		569611
Russian Federation	Rapeseed	630325		752200		666840
Serbia	Rapeseed	29825		51907		44300
Slovakia	Rapeseed	321100		424444		386691
Slovenia	Rapeseed	14740		10949		9845
South Africa	Rapeseed	38150		30800		40130
Spain	Rapeseed	34700		23100		28900
Sweden	Rapeseed	216100		254500		298400
Switzerland	Rapeseed	61000		62100		67000
Tajikistan	Rapeseed	13		241		240	F
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Rapeseed	23		500		1501
Tunisia	Rapeseed	2500	F	2500	F		M
Turkey	Rapeseed	28727		83965		113886
Ukraine	Rapeseed	1047400		2872800		1873300
United Kingdom	Rapeseed	2108000		1973030		1951000
United States of America	Rapeseed	649519		655610		669340
Uruguay	Rapeseed	25000	*	28000	*	32000	*
Uzbekistan	Rapeseed	1800		1800			M
World + (Total)	Rapeseed	51477710	A	58061092	A	61630798	A

My usual sources  are : FAO.org, usda.gov, cia.gov, alibaba.com, many others

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