Sowing sustainability: The rise of winter oilseeds

Have you heard the news about alternative crops as feedstock in the biofuels space?

The market for sustainable biofuels is growing and with that market comes a wealth of opportunities for farmers like yourself. Crops such as winter canola, winter camelina, carinata, and pennycress are now being used for sustainable biofuels and several of these crops are also included in the new 45Z tax incentive program. This opens up great new marketing opportunities for you if you’re looking to diversify your crop rotation with the use of more oilseeds. 

While all of these crops will be critical to the low carbon fuels space, Cargill has begun investing in a winter camelina program. We see the potential in these crops to provide a solutions for hard-to-electrify parts of the transportation sector. Additionally, this is an opportunity to support farmer profitability with a new potential revenue stream. This crop is an extremely winter hardy brassica species that produces oil at similar levels to canola, can yield between 800-1500lbs/acre, requires minimal crop inputs, and can be harvested in late June - leaving time for another crop to grow.

What is the difference between winter seeded oil crops and cover crops?

Functionally, winter oilseed crops provide similar soil health benefits as cover crops including soil armor, uptake of excess nutrients, crop diversification, and weed suppression. The big difference is that the USDA National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) defines a cover crop as a non-primary crop that is terminated. The industry is currently in the process of adjusting policies and definitions for this category of "intermediate oilseed crops" to allow for more coverage, and recognition.

What you need to know to grow it on your farm:

There are some key changes that need to be made when incorporating winter oilseeds like winter camelina on your farm. While none of these changes are large adjustments to your current rotation, they are critical to the success of the crop. With winter camelina rapidly gaining traction as a winter oilseed, we will delve into the specifics for successfully integrating this crop into your rotation.

• Winter camelina does not like wet feet. Find well drained, sloped, or lighter soil fields for planting.
• This crop does not grow well in states that spend most of their winter in a freeze/thaw cycle and should be concentrated around North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, but growers have also produced it successfully in Wisconsin and Iowa as well.
• The planting date range for winter camelina follows the winter wheat dates in your area, typically between September 15th and October 15th. The further south you are, the later you should plant.
• The plant should be drilled or shallowly broad-casted about 3/4^th of an inch at 8lbs per acre.
• Don't be surprised if you don't see a lot of growth during the fall. Even the tiny little seedlings are incredibly tough and should come through during the winter.
• Winter camelina will need a small amount of spring fertilizer (about 50lbs of N) before the crop bolts in the spring.
• There are two methods of planting a primary crop in the same year as winter camelina harvest:
  • Double cropping. Similar to what is done further south with soybeans planted after wheat harvest.
  • Relay cropping. This requires a space left of 30-inch rows to plant your soybeans into before the camelina bolts.
• Crops that could follow winter camelina include soybeans, sunflowers, annual forages, and canning crops.

Please check with your local crop insurance agent to see if winter camelina is covered in your area- it is county and state specific.

For more information, please reference the Forever Green Initiatives grower guide.