Sharing Canola’s Story at Canada’s Largest Outdoor Show
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By Yulia Karimova and Jack Liu
What better place to tell agriculture’s story than an event that welcomed more than 1.4 million visitors? During the 2026 Calgary Stampede, Alberta Canola connected with thousands of people, sharing the story behind canola and the farmers who grow it. We came ready to answer questions about farming and canola oil. We left inspired by how many people wanted to connect and learn more about where their food comes from.
Curiosity Starts the Conversation
Alberta Canola’s booth is designed to spark curiosity and make learning fun for visitors of all ages. Through hands-on activities, videos, and demonstrations, people can see how canola goes from seed to oil. Every question is an opportunity for a conversation, which is why our team of farmers, directors, and staff is there to share first-hand knowledge and help visitors better understand canola and farming.
What surprised us most was how many people stopped by, asked thoughtful questions, and genuinely wanted to learn more. It became clear that today’s consumers want more than just products. In many ways, they are overwhelmed by choice. What they’re looking for is clarity. Many told us they read nutrition labels, look for foods lower in saturated fat, and choose local products whenever they can. They want trusted information to help them make informed choices for themselves and their families.
The Questions That Started Conversations
While every conversation was different, a few questions came up repeatedly.
Where does the oil in Canola Oil come from? Canola oil is derived from the crushed, tiny black seeds of the Canola plant. Each seed is about 45% percent oil by weight.
What are some of the useful applications for Canola? Canola is primarily grown for cooking oil. Processing the oil produces protein-rich canola meal, a byproduct used as feed for cattle, pigs, poultry, and fish, with potential as a plant-based protein for human consumption.
Canola oil is also a renewable feedstock for biofuels. It can be converted into biodiesel and blended with petroleum diesel or hydrotreated to produce renewable diesel that is chemically identical to petroleum diesel.
Additional applications include machinery lubricants, printing inks, organic biopesticides, and cosmetics.
What is the nutritional value of Canola oil compared to other oils? Compared to other conventional cooking oils, canola oil has the lowest saturated fat content of any common plant oil, and a high smoke point of 242 Celsius (468 Fahrenheit). This makes it a good choice for high-heat cooking because it helps reduce the release of harmful substances that can form when oil gets too hot. It also has zero trans-fat and a healthy Omega fatty acid ratio.
What is the difference between rapeseed and Canola? Although canola and traditional rapeseed look almost the same with their bright yellow flowers, there are some substantial differences. Both come from the same plant species. Traditional rapeseed contains high levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates.
Canola is a culinary-grade variety developed by Canadian scientists in the 1970s through traditional plant breeding that greatly reduced the levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates. In fact, the name “canola” stands for Canadian Oil, Low Acid, referring to its low erucic acid content.
Europe also produces similar edible varieties but rarely uses the term “canola.” Instead, it is sold as rapeseed oil or double-zero rapeseed, meaning low in both erucic acid and glucosinolates. Due to different European naming conventions, a bottle of double-zero rapeseed oil in a London supermarket is essentially the same food product as a bottle of canola oil in Canada.
Mustard that is grown in Asia is a different species within the same Brassicaceae family. It naturally contains higher levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates, giving it its sharp, pungent flavour. Traditional cooking methods, however, greatly reduce glucosinolate content before it is eaten.
What We Learned
One of our biggest takeaways was that curiosity is agriculture’s greatest opportunity. Many of the Calgary Stampede visitors came to the booth with little knowledge of canola, often confusing it with mustard grown in South Asia or European rapeseed. But they left with a greater understanding of what the crop is and why it matters so much to Canadians.
We also learned that people value transparency. They want to know what is in their food, where it comes from, and how farmers make decisions. Having honest conversations helped build trust and create meaningful connections. This is just a first step, but we hope they come back next year to learn more.
Why Events Like Stampede Matter
The Calgary Stampede is more than a celebration of Western heritage. It is also one of the few places where consumers and the agriculture industry can connect directly.
For us, it was rewarding to help tell the story of canola and the people who grow it. Every question, conversation and interaction reinforced the importance of sharing agriculture’s story beyond the farm gate.