Camelina acreage is expected to climb again this year as the oilseed’s popularity grows.
If the crop’s potential as a jet biofuel is realized, acreage could go sky high.
Prairie producers seeded 500 acres to camelina in 2006. Last year, 10 times that many acres were in production.
Great Plains, The Camelina Company, has about 80 percent of Canadian production under contract.
“We do have ambitious plans,” said chief operating officer Dave King.
“We have targeted 1.5 million acres by 2013.”
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Growers say the industry should act immediately to ramp up research.
Hugh Campbell, a long-time grower from Qu’Appelle, Sask., said an application to establish the Saskatchewan Camelina Association has been made to the provincial government.
The association would act as a development commission and control check-off dollars. It could also contribute to a national effort, Campbell said.
Bill Ross, executive director of the Camelina Association of Canada, said board membership is being finalized and will include growers and processors.
If camelina takes off as some predict, then research into new varieties, crop protection products and disease will be vital, he added.
Ross said the challenge is to make sure that the benefits from that acreage reach everyone in the supply chain.
