Canola is treat for eye, economy

Flathead Valley residents and visitors alike have had the visual pleasure of seeing an upswing in canola production this year. The eye-appealing yellow fields of flowering canola soon will give way to harvest, giving growers an economic boost.

Canola has become a popular rotational crop for local farmers, with roughly 6,000 acres of the oil-bearing grain planted in Flathead County this year. With its health benefits, canola oil is growing in popularity, and canola processing plants going online in Washington and Minnesota no doubt will benefit producers all along the United States’ northern tier.

The Flathead has a rich agricultural heritage, and we’re glad to see that so vividly continuing here.

IT’S INSPIRING and encouraging to see someone from the Flathead Valley emerge as an innovator, and that’s what we’ve seen recently with the development of a new software program that greatly simplifies the task of managing employee schedules.

The “ShiftAuction” software was developed by Tyler Weber, the chief administrative officer at Northwest Imaging, initially as a more flexible way to manage the complicated schedules for 11 radiologists. Then it was applied to the nursing staff of about 400 at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Now it is attracting interest from other hospitals.

There is considerable promise for Weber’s company to blossom. This is how jobs are created, and the Flathead Valley stands to benefit from company’s like ShiftAuction.

WILL THE latest Dream Team rule the basketball world as its predecessors did?

Can the U.S. women’s soccer team make up for its World Cup disappointment with a gold medal?

Will the star-studded American lineup dominate the women’s gymnastics medal count?

Will sprinter Usain Bolt be able to strike his victory pose again?

How many more medals will swimmer Michael Phelps bring home?

Those are just a few of the questions that will be answered in the next couple of weeks as the London Olympics unfold.

The quadrennial sporting spectacle officially begins Friday (although soccer kicked off Olympic events Wednesday with a U.S. women’s triumph) and is sure to produce plenty of memorable moments.

Along the way, a couple of other questions will be answered, too: How will Montana’s two competitors fare against the world? Can London top Beijing for opening-ceremony brilliance?

We’ll all be watching.