Counterpoint: Winter camelina holds promise for Minnesota farmers, environment and citizens

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Winter camelina is a promising new crop in development for Minnesota farmers, not a greenwashing Trojan horse, as asserted in a recent commentary. (“Is sustainable aviation fuel plan an example of public-private-nonprofit greenwashing?” May 17.) As leaders of the research and commercialization programs at the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative, which is developing winter camelina, we welcome transparent discussion of its merits.

Winter camelina has the potential to be an economically viable, low-carbon biofuel feedstock that provides a broad suite of environmental benefits. Indeed, peer-reviewed research has shown that winter camelina can reduce soil erosion by up to 80% and nitrate leaching potential by up to 90%, while producing diesel and jet fuel with a low carbon footprint.

Yet, the crop is very new in this region. As such, it lacks the regulatory and market advantages of established crops such as corn, soybeans and canola. To drive winter camelina toward commercial readiness, Forever Green has assembled a world-class network of agricultural scientists, growers, environmental advocates, industry partners, state agencies and philanthropists. Uniting these partners to turn new crops into scalable solutions is the heart of Forever Green’s mission.

To inform the public discussion about winter camelina, we have shared many public resources. In addition to published research, we put out a how-to guide for farmers and a detailed report on the 2023-24 growing season. We host weekly research seminars anyone is welcome to attend. On May 28, we are hosting a public Forever Green Field Day in St. Paul (tinyurl.com/zvfsww34).

Our doors are open.

Can winter camelina be profitable for farmers? Like all crops, it depends on price and yield. However, because our goal is for farmers to harvest and sell both winter camelina and soybeans in the same year, it also depends on the degree to which camelina reduces the yield of the soybean crop grown after it. More on this below.

First, price. For the last two years, winter camelina production contracts with a price of around $25 per hundredweight have seen uptake by early adopter growers. As we improve crop yields over time, prices may come down or profitability may improve. Winter camelina may also fetch a premium in emerging regulated markets for low-carbon fuels.

If profitability is uncertain at this early stage, why not promote traditional cover crops instead?

While a highly effective conservation practice, cover crops are not harvested, so they cost farmers money without making money in the short term. They have so far proven hard to scale up without ongoing public incentive payments. Despite four major pushes over the last 100 years to scale up cover crops, they are used on less than 5% of Minnesota cropland. Winter camelina does cost money to implement, but unlike traditional cover crops it can be harvested and sold. This lets the market drive adoption, rather than public subsidies. Forever Green has been careful to design state support for earliest adopter winter camelina growers as risk management rather than subsidies.

What about the yield reduction in the following soybean crop?

This “yield drag” can be as high as 30%, but figures as low as 10-15% have been achieved repeatedly. At this level, winter camelina can be profitable. With ongoing research, we expect we can further reduce soybean yield drag.

This system has been shown to produce more oil per acre — up to 50% more — than soybeans alone. This can help feed the rapidly growing market for low-carbon fuels and other biobased products without bringing more land into agricultural production, protecting irreplaceable native forests and grasslands.

Winter camelina is at the start of the journey that all of our major crops and many other technologies have taken. When soybeans were introduced here more than 80 years ago, they yielded 16 bushels per acre. Thanks to sustained public and private investment, yields above 60 bushels are now common in Minnesota. Likewise, solar panels were criticized not long ago for being too expensive. Between 1980 and 2012 the cost of solar has decreased by 99%.

If winter camelina can chart a similar course, there will be widespread benefits for Minnesota’s environment, economy and people. We invite you to join us in the field next week and see for yourselves.

Mitch Hunter is co-director and Colin Cureton is director of commercialization, adoption and scaling of the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences.