Camelina: Montana’s next cash crop?

By TED SULLIVAN Chronicle Staff Writer

If the government approves the use of camelina in food products and the biodiesel industry takes off, Montana farmers could plant a million acres of the crop and sell it as fuel, animal feed or sandwich spread, local agriculture experts say.

DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE This camelina plant is one of thousands being cultivated and studied at Montana State University. “I see a huge potential for it. The size of the markets that it could be used in is gigantic,” said Bruce Wright, who grows camelina north of Bozeman and is in charge of the Great Northern Growers Cooperative. “There’s a huge potential for it in biodiesel. That one market alone could use everything we grow in Montana.”

Montana is already the largest camelina producer in the world with 28,000 acres planted a year, said Alice Pilgeram, co-director of the Institute of Biobased Products. By comparison, more than 5 million acres of wheat are planted in the state each year.

The crop, which is an oilseed in the same family as mustard and canola, does not require lots of nutrients or pesticides and grows well in dry regions.

Once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives camelina its stamp of approval, the oil can be used in salad dressing, soap or baking products, Pilgeram said. And the leftover crushed seeds can become meal for chickens, livestock or dairy cows.

The crop is desirable for animals and people because of its high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids, Pilgeram said. Camelina oil contains up to 40 percent Omega 3, compared to 8 percent in canola and 1 percent in soy bean or corn oils, the Great Northern Growers Web site reported.

And when animals eat camelina meal, it transfers into Omega 3-rich eggs, beef or milk for human consumption.

On the fuel side of the equation, if Montana’s biodiesel industry develops, the 28,000 acres of camelina being grown here could skyrocket.

Montana residents consume 450 million gallons of petroleum diesel a year, Pilgeram said. If 20 to 50 percent of that market shifts to biodiesel, Montana farmers will have a tremendous market.

Companies such as Great Plains Oil and Exploration, Sustainable Oils, Earl Fischer Biofuels and Sustainable Systems all hope to produce more biodiesel in Montana, Pilgeram said. And because the fuel would be produced and used locally, it would benefit the state’s economy.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if you want to make biodiesel and you want to make it at a reasonable cost, you’ve got to be looking at camelina,” said Duane Johnson, vice president of agricultural development for Great Plains Oil and Exploration.

But first companies and producers must work together to build more biodiesel processing plants and facilities.

“We have to get off this petroleum standard,” Johnson said. “We can slow down the number of imports in this country. It could be significant in terms of cost savings to this country.”

One problem slowing the camelina boom is the high price of wheat, Johnson said. It’s hard to get farmers to sacrifice their wheat acreage for camelina when wheat prices are at an all-time high.

“We’ve had a couple years of setbacks due to high wheat prices. Growers have been planting wheat,” Johnson said. “But that will change. The prices now are not sustainable.”

Wright, who has been growing a couple hundred acres of camelina a year since 2004, said it’s just a matter of time until camelina becomes the crop regularly rotated with wheat. The oilseed crop is a good one to rotate with wheat because it reduces weeds and pests in fields.

“In a couple years after we get these approvals and get these markets lined up, they’ll be hundreds of thousands of acres of camelina,” Wright said. “It’s too good a crop to not plant.”

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