Biofuel Producer Bets on Camelina as Low-Carbon Feedstock

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December 29, 2021

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by Amy Mayer (Agri-Pulse) A minor oilseed may be poised to take on a larger role as climate-smart policies emphasize low carbon fuels and the soil health benefits of cover crops. Camelina is seen by some as a cover crop that recoups a farmer’s investment because it can be harvested instead of plowed under. One current destination for camelina is a renewable diesel plant coming online in Bakersfield, California. But camelina fans say its future could also include bioplastics.

Scientists with USDA 's Agricultural Research Service have spent years amassing data to determine whether camelina could be a third crop to break up the standard Midwest corn-soybean rotation.

They’ve looked at how the camelina compares to ryegrass as a cover crop, whether growing camelina in a field hurts the major crop yields that follow and what the changes to nitrogen loss and soil health are when camelina is in the mix. Their goal is to help farmers and others see more clearly how to increase agricultural productivity while reducing harmful environmental effects.

John Kovar, a soil scientist with ARS in Ames, Iowa, says the plots with camelina have done pretty well.

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He (Rob Malone with ARS in Ames) says one concern about relay cropping or double cropping—both terms used to describe a growing a cash crop in the season between two existing crops—is that the additional crop uses a little more water. Some years, he says, “that little bit is enough to cause some water stress” for the crop that follows.

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The camelina experiments are part of a bigger, six-year study comparing conventional, no-till and cover cropping systems. Kovar says although 2021 was the final year, the researchers haven’t finished amassing and analyzing the data, which is all part of a larger Mississippi River Basin-wide research project on nutrient loss in corn-growing systems.

But in the meantime, the private sector has also been pursuing camelina as a third crop, biofuels feedstock and a potential source for bioplastics.

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Sustainable Oils has partnered with Cenex Harvest States (CHS) to encourage Montana farmers to plant camelina during the time when they otherwise would be fallowing land between crops.

Mike Karst, president of Sustainable Oils, says in Montana camelina can be planted in April and harvested in August so farmers can “come back in and plant winter wheat in behind us that same year and then have a winter wheat through the next winter season.”

He says that puts a crop on the ground when otherwise some farmers wouldn’t have anything growing. In Colorado and Kansas, though, Karst says camelina gets planted in November or December and harvested in early June.

“They can then come back in with a double crop of sorghum, for example, or a double crop of soybeans, particularly if they have irrigation water.” As a winter annual in that part of the country, Karst says camelina “gives [farmers] another full crop in a season when they had absolutely nothing growing there to begin with.”

Karst says the partnership with CHS connected Sustainable Oils with the elevator and rail lines necessary to get the camelina crop directly to Bakersfield.

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Oliver Peoples, currently the CEO of Yield 10 Bioscience, had his sights on bioplastics when he began work to transfer genetic information from microbes into plants so the plants could be used for PHA bioplastics. That early work got shelved until genetic engineering advanced in ways that make the process more plausible.

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A challenge for the drive to engage farmers in more climate friendly practices is the tendency to expect a quick policy decision to be broadly applicable. Conversely, farmers know they need to see how something works in their region, with their soil and their weather, before committing. That has quelled enthusiasm for cover crops in certain areas, even as the Build Back Better bill pending in the Senate would offer farmers $25 an acre to plant them.

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Karst says he’s already talking with people in disparate locations who might buy, store and even process camelina in the future.

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In the Corn Belt, the research focus was on improving water quality through nutrient retention. The corn-camelina-soybean system did not reduce nitrogen loss compared to conventional corn and soybeans and no-till plots. The rye cover crop between cash crops had the most impact on nitrogen loss, according to results through 2020. Even though the experimental design pitted four different cropping systems against each other, farmers ultimately don’t have to choose only isolated options. The ARS researchers conclude that “multiple complementary management practices may be the best path to navigate the tradeoffs.”

The growth in demand for camelina certainly will influence whether more farmers look into it, as will the calculation of whether taking on an unknown third crop offers enough potential income to offset the risk as compared to taking a government subsidy to plant a traditional cover crop. READ MORE

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