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The yellow fields that impress us with their brightness and transmit us joy are the rapeseed fields, as we see in this series of photographs in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia captured in Torà, in the Solsonès region.
The municipality of Torà includes the entire valley of the Llanera stream up to its confluence with the Llobregós river. The relief is quite rugged, with gentle elevations ranging from 430 m to 850 m, but that does not prevent this town from also joining the fashion of rapeseed crops, which can be profitable and, at the same time, they attract blooming tourism.
Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is a plant with a yellow flower in the Brassicaceae family, a relative of broccoli, cabbage, mustard or turnip. In fact, it is part of a botanical community of more than 3,000 species.
They have in common that they are rustic and also give a lot of yellow flowers with 4 petals (for this reason they were previously called cruciferous) and they are a good food for pollinating insects.
It is an annual plant from 0.3 to 1 meter high, leaves from 5 to 40 cm, which blooms in early spring with these splendid yellow flowers.
It can be grown in fairly cold climates and not excessively rainy. In climates with a Mediterranean influence, it is sown at the beginning of autumn.
It is the third most important source of vegetable oil and the second of vegetable protein worldwide. Oil is mainly extracted from its seeds. It naturally contains an appreciable amount of erucic acid.
As a by-product, a cake rich in protein dedicated to animal feed is obtained. The oil can be used for fuel (biodiesel).
