5-27 IANCamelina

 Crop producers, if you’re in a rut, looking to grow something different and interesting, I’ve got a suggestion.  Camelina can be turned into anything from bio-diesel, to feed for horses, cattle, chicken and fish, and, if the FDA would wake up, could be a fabulous food for humans. I’m David Sparks. Right back with details. A member of the mustard family, camelina is an oilseed crop that has demonstrated better drought tolerance and greater spring freezing tolerance than canola.  Camelina appears resistant to flea beetles, a major economic pest of canola and has potential for successful dryland production which should make it  a good choice for rotating with small grain crops. Here’s Alice Pilgeram, Research Professor at Montana State University who says that her research on oil seed crops showed: “Hands down, camelina produced better than the other oil seed crops. The driving force behind commercial production is bio-diesel industry. The bio-diesel industry is in a world of hurt because they need to produce cost competitive fuel. What I like about camelina is that this is an oil seed and once you crush the oil out of it, what you have left is camelina meal. Camelina meal is equivalent to corn meal. The meal is 42% protein, it contains about 10% oil, it’s probably one of the richest sources of Omega 3 that we have.”

 Alice says the meal is a superb alternative to corn for all livestock, is great for chicken feed because eggs become chock full of Omega 3.