crambe has not been in cultivation for a long time. it was probably cultivated for the first time in the 1930s in the former ussr. later the crop was tested in other regions of the ussr, in sweden and in poland, where crambe was grown on 25’000 ha after the second world war. research efforts in northern and eastern europe were increased and the agronomical characteristics and industrial uses of crambe were intensively studied. by successive selection within "c. abyssinica," conventional breeding started in the 1950s in some european countries. hereby improved strains were introduced to canada and the united states. further selection and crossing of different accession led to the release of new varieties in the 1970s. through introgression of wild populations and mass selection two new cultivars were created in the 1980s which were promoted as high yielding source of erucic acid. in the 1990s a breeding program was started in the netherlands. nevertheless, after a period of great efforts to bring crambe into extended cultivation, interest in the crop in europe has declined in recent years .