Winter "Weed" Promises Big Double-Crop Dollars

Winter "Weed" Promises Big Double-Crop Dollars 33-6-9 Midwestern farmers could make as much as $175 an acre by double-cropping field pennycress. The winter annual weed from the mustard family shows promise as a biofuels crop with twice as much oil content per lb. as soybeans. Best of all, for crop producers farming in the area between Interstate highways I-70 and I-80, it can be planted after corn comes out in early October and harvested in May before soybeans have to be planted. "This will be my third planting of a small plot on my farm," says Peter Johnsen, chief technology officer, Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois (BMI). "Last year I did 6 acres and this year will do as many as 25 acres. We have commitments from other farmers for plantings ranging from 5 acres to 200." Johnsen says he is still learning what the best seeding rate and plant density are for the crop. Yields last year ran from 800 lbs. an acre with low planting densities to 2,100 lbs. per acre at higher seeding rates. With 400,000 seeds per lb., it takes 4 to 5 lbs. of seed to get 750,000 to a million plants per acre. The question of how much to plant for maximum production is yet to be answered. "We're still learning how to grow the crop," says Johnsen. "We are trying to narrow in on what the sweet spot is for planting rates. We thought some practices would produce better yields, and they did, but we still don't know what optimum production will be." BMI is giving away seed to interested farmers and also seeking financing for a new crushing plant. Johnsen says the firm expects to break ground on a plant in 2010. Farmers are not being asked to help fund the plant, as was the case with many ethanol and biodiesel plants. Instead, the company is encouraging growers to join a grower-owned group that will contract for production, collect the crop and then sell it to BMI. "Growing a new crop is risky enough without the grower taking on the burden of the processing plant, too," says Johnsen. "We hope to develop the demand first and then offer growers contracts to grow it." Johnsen projects the initial plant will use seed from about half a million acres. Illinois alone has enough soybean acres that if pennycress were double-cropped on all of them, the state would need 18 plants. "There's tremendous potential for this crop from Ohio to Nebraska in the I-70 to I-80 band," he says. Eventually, varieties of pennycress may be developed for areas to the north and south. The weed can be found from Florida to Alaska, but shifts from a winter annual to a spring emerging weed as it moves north. Johnsen suggests that its relative, camelina, may be a better choice in northern areas. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Peter B. Johnsen, Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois, 801 W. Main Street, Peoria, Ill. 61606 (ph 309 258-1500; peter@bmibiofuels.com; www.bmibiofuels.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.