Rapeseed yield per hectare: FAO figures and what a seeding trial shows

Rapeseed yield by country, 2022 to 2024

FAO reports rapeseed, which includes canola types, in tonnes per hectare. The table shows Black Sea and Central Asian producers, the largest European producers, Canada and Australia, and the world average.

Two patterns stand out. The large western European producers fell in each of the three years, Germany from 3.95 to 3.34 t/ha. Kazakhstan moved the other way, from 1.33 t/ha in 2023 to 1.92 t/ha in 2024. FAO series follow national reports, so a single-year move is a reason to look at the national source, not a trend.

What a three-season seeding trial shows

Gushchina and Lykova ran a field trial with spring rapeseed from 2008 to 2010 on leached chernozem soil. They crossed three sowing dates with six seeding rates, counted in viable seeds per hectare. The table gives the earliest sowing date, which matched the sowing of early spring cereals.

• The season decided most. In 2010 an acute shortage of rain with high temperatures through flowering and seed fill held every treatment to between 0.70 and 0.87 t/ha, less than half the best year.
• Thicker was not better. Raising the rate from 2.0 to 4.0 million viable seeds per hectare cut the 2008 yield from 2.20 to 1.88 t/ha, because branching and pods per plant fell.
• Early sowing led. At 2.0 million seeds the three-season mean was 1.61 t/ha for the earliest date and 1.43 t/ha for the latest.
• Dry topsoil hurt emergence. The seed is so small that a spring with a dry seedbed lowered field emergence even when the seed had started to germinate.

This is one site, one variety and three seasons, so treat the optimum of 2.0 to 2.5 million viable seeds as a pattern and not as a recommendation. The seed in the trial weighed between 2.6 and 3.1 g per thousand in 2008 and 2009, which is why rates are best set in plants or viable seeds and not in kilograms. The thousand seed weight guide and the seed rate guide show how to convert.

A signal from a dry region

USDA reported in September 2025 that sunflower farmers in Thrace, hit by drought, were expected to switch toward canola and barley. FAO puts the rapeseed yield of Turkey at 3.18 t/ha in 2024, down from 3.72 t/ha in 2023. The trial above shows that dry weather at flowering and seed fill cuts the yield whichever sowing date is used. See the sunflower yield guide for the other side of that switch.

Setting a yield reference for your fields

1. 1Record the sowing date and the rate. Both explain the yield, and both are easy to forget by the next season.
2. 2Count plants, not just kilograms. Write down viable seeds per hectare and the thousand seed weight of the lot.
3. 3Note the dry spell. Log any dry period at flowering and seed fill next to the final yield.
4. 4Check regional recommendations. Optimum rates and dates differ by zone and by variety.

How this works in Planva

• Crop rotation by season. Crop, variety, sowing and harvest dates, yield in c/ha and harvest in tonnes for each field.
• Seed catalogue. Reproduction, germination, 1000-seed weight, maturity group and purity.
• Agroplans. Seed held by rate or quantity, plan and actual, so the sown rate stays next to the yield.
• Rotation map. A crop filter prints to PDF or JPEG with an area summary.

Planva records these facts. It does not set yield targets or give agronomic recommendations. For how rapeseed fits into a sequence, read the crop rotation guide.

Sources

• Rapeseed yields, FAO data via Our World in Data, 1961 to 2024
• V. Gushchina and A. Lykova, yield and quality of spring rapeseed oilseed depending on cultivation methods and weather, Bulletin of Altai State Agrarian University, 2011, No. 6
• USDA FAS, Turkiye: Oilseeds and Products Update, TU2025-0050, 25 September 2025