Raps

Rape, oilseed (Brassica napus) and turnip (Brassica rapa) were widely grown in Austria before 1870, but by 1937 cultivation of these oil plants had been reduced to a mere 80 hectares of farmland. During World War II rape (10,919 hectares) and turnip (6,594 hectares) were again cultivated on a large scale. When the production of edible oil and margarine changed to erucid-acid free types ("OO types"), rape gained importance as a raw material. In 1993 winter rape was cultivated on 57,307 hectares yielding 2.2 tons per hectare, summer rape and turnip were grown on 1,783 hectares yielding 2.0 tons per hectare. Total production amounted to 132,400 tons of seed or 49,960 tons of oil. In a number of small production sites the process of interesterification is used to produce "biodiesel" (rape methyl ester) from rape oil.