MADRAS, Ore. -- An Oregon State University researcher has determined that a variety of canola for seed could be possibly grown in Central Oregon, opening the door for economic growth for the area.

The discovery came less than a year after starting experimental hybrid canola trials on small plots of land near Madras. Next year, the researcher will determine how much hybrid seed regional farmers could produce and its estimated value to growers.

Brian Duggan, a crop physiologist for OSU Extension based in Madras, said the winter variety of canola seed that flowers in April will survive the winter and won't interfere with other crops in the area.

The spring variety of hybrid canola seeds won't work in the region because they flower in June, at the same time as the region's high-value seed crops and risk cross-pollination.

Duggan explained his findings recently to a group of crop consultants and researchers from around the state who gathered for a wheat and canola field day at the Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center north of Madras.

Canola is the highest producing oil-seed crop, but the state prohibits it from being grown in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties because of its potentially harmful effect on other seed crops.

Duggan received a special permit from the Oregon Department of Agriculture to begin growing canola in Madras and Powell Butte. He says that farmers could use the crop for their own biodiesel consumption by crushing the seed into oil.

Hybrid canola seed is considered a potentially high-value crop for Central Oregon farmers because of the increasing demand for alternative fuels nationwide that can be processed from canola oils, including biodiesel. Canola also is used for human and animal food products.

"With all the demand right now, there's a shortage of seed around," said Brent Searle, special assistant to the director for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. "There's plenty of demand, but anybody that wants to grow it for seed faces a big learning curve."

Members of the Central Oregon agriculture community, who would grow the seeds for other farmers, were cautious of the development.

"We've still got to make sure it's not going to interfere with the crops at hand," said Jim Carroll, an agronomist with CHS Inc. in Madras, which contracts with different farmers to produce seed in the area. "We don't want any cross-pollination on our radish crops or seed contamination on other vegetable seed crops."

The earliest Central Oregon farmers could sew the canola seed would be fall 2008, Duggan said.