05/31/07 Camelina Biofuel

Camelina Biofuel. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Camelina Sativa is a plant that has been around for nearly 3500 years but is only just beginning to get some attention. Originally used as an oil seed plant, but in addition to it's value as a food source that oil is now being looked at hard and long as a possible biofuel. Companies like Great Plains in Montana are gearing up to start producing biofuels from camelina and are currently looking for growers to switch to camelina. Duane Johnson is the Vice President of Agricultural Development for Great Plain but used to work for Montana State University where he did extensive research into camelina. One question that some people are asking is whether a crop like this can help ease the current high prices on corn. Johnson says we aren't talking apples to apples here. JOHNSON: Basically all oilseeds are, they have always been grown for oil and for protein. We are not going to impact the protein market at all in terms of  like corn you are taking away a lot of carbohydrates from the feed industry and that's causing some significant impacts on the feed industry. We won't have that kind of negative impact if we switch to camelinas because we'll still be generating that protein and it still goes into the feedlot industry so its not going to be negative in terms of agricultural production of further value added products like beef and pork and fish and chickens. He also reminds people that ethanol and biodiesel are not the same thing. JOHNSON: Ethanol is something that is blended into gasoline; this is something that is blended into diesel fuel. So there is no relationship between ethanol and biodiesel. Camelina is proving to be a hardy crop that grows in more difficult areas. As with any new crop there can be difficulties in having enough seed but Johnson says that is not a problem. JOHNSON: We actually have quite a bit of seed in storage as well as in the fields this year. We figure we can generate about 900 acres for every acre of seed we produce this year so we can do a very rapid propagation on it. And while it's not anywhere near a major crop harvest the acreage is growing. JOHNSON: Our company has about 30-thousand acres and then one of our competitors has about 12-thousand acres. So all totaled probably around, I would say we're probably going to harvest around 40-thousand acres. Oddly enough, all camelina oil is going to the biofuels production even though it is very high in nutritional value. JOHNSON: If it cannot be identified as a food product prior to 1956, then you have to go through a process of applying and you have to provide evidence that nobody has been killed by eating this stuff. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.