Cargill to Fund Research on Two Novel Oilseed Crops

Cargill has awarded $2.5 million to the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota to fund research on two novel oilseed crops - winter camelina and domesticated winter pennycress - two crops with the potential to produce seed-based oil for low-carbon fuels in a regenerative way. 

Forever Green, a research platform in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, is an international leader in the development of these two crops, and is advancing a portfolio of more than 15 new perennial and winter-annual crops. By integrating these novel crops with common Midwestern crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat, farmers can employ a production system known as “continuous living cover” agriculture. 

Mitch Hunter, associate director of the Forever Green Initiative, explained that these two crops could be major climate solutions for hard-to-electrify parts of the transportation sector. Grown in the off-season with minimal inputs, their seed oil can be refined into drop-in replacements for jet fuel and diesel with up to 60 percent less emissions compared to petroleum-based fuels. Additionally, the oil may be used for food, biopolymers, and other industrial applications, while the meal could be used for animal feed.

More on this story.