Ubiquitous Yellow

At present, the fields around us are full of yellow Rape Seed Oil crops in full bloom. They certainly stand out as they cover large fields, and can be seen for miles. I was interested in what they looked like close up so, after Church, I went in to the edge of one of the fields. I have to say that they are more attractive as an individual plant than the great swathes of unnatural yellow.

A bit more information about the Rape crops (I have an instinctive dislike of the name):

Rapeseed oil was produced in the 19th century as a source of a lubricant for steam engines. It was less useful as food for animals or humans because it had a bitter taste. Varieties have now been bred, yielding a more palatable oil.

Rapeseed is grown for the production of animal feed, vegetable oil for human consumption, and biodiesel; leading producers include the European Union, Canada, the United States, Australia, China and India. In India, it is grown on 13% of cropped land. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, rapeseed was the third leading source of vegetable oil in the world in 2000, after soybean and oil palm, and also the world's second leading source of protein meal, although only one-fifth of the production of the leading soybean meal.

World production is growing rapidly: 36 million tons of rapeseed were produced in the 2003-2004 season, and an estimated 58.4 million tons in the 2010-2011 season. In Europe, rapeseed is primarily cultivated for animal feed, owing to its very high lipid and medium protein content.