Camelina Offers Hope as California Biofuel Crop

by Harry Cline (Western Farm Press) Camelina, a weed in the mustard and distant relative to canola, may be emerging as the front runner in California agriculture’s continuing search for a biofuel crop.
It captured the most attention at a field day at the University of California Westside Research and Extension Center near Five Points, Calif., where UC agronomist Steve Kaffka is evaluating several oilseed crops for biofuel.
Not only is camelina the most promising of the three oilseed crops Kaffka is testing, but a Seattle-based company is looking to contract for 40,000 to 60,000 acres of camelina to be planted this fall on abandoned dryland acreage, primarily in the Westlands Water District in Western Fresno County, Calif., where there are thousands of acres of abandoned irrigated farmland.
...Steve Sandroni, production and logistics manager for Sustainable Oils, believes camelina may be a better crop fit than grain because it will produce 1,500 to 1,600 pounds of camelina per acre on 4-6 inches of winter rainfall. It would be a challenge to produce wheat or barley on so little rainfall.
...Most U.S. camelina acreage is now in Montana where 9,900 acres were grown there last year as a spring planted crop. That is down sharply from the 21,000 acres grown in 2009 and the 22,500 acres seeded in 2007. This decline in camelina is related to increasing returns for cereal grains.
...Camelina is fueling a U.S Air Force goal of acquiring 50 percent of its domestic aviation fuel via alternative fuel blends derived from domestic sources by 2016.
...Additionally, its meal – what is left after oil has been extracted from the seed – has been approved by the USDA for livestock and poultry feed.
...Eubanks said, however, the challenge for anyone promoting fall-planted oilseed crops — irrigated or dryland — is the return for competing crops.
“Barley got up to $250 per ton; wheat to $290; and even safflower reached $550 per ton,” noted Eubanks. It is difficult for a new, untried crop to compete against those prices. READ MORE