Yield10 Bioscience, Inc., an agricultural bioscience company, has announced its 2023 enrollment program for contract production of Camelina. Yield10 is offering contracts for both spring and winter varieties of Camelina to farmers located in Western Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), and Northern U.S. (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and Minnesota). Yield10 is offering growers offtake production contracts for Camelina with net returns similar to canola, a strategy the Company believes will enable it to participate in the high-growth biofuels market.
In 2023, Yield10 plans to contract with growers for planting high-performing, spring and winter Camelina varieties as part of an initiative to establish pre-commercial production and offtake relationships in the biofuels market. These grower contracts currently do not require up-front costs for seed and provide a guaranteed minimum revenue per acre. Among the benefits of the program is that it allows for the product to be moved off the farm quickly following harvest. Yield10 plans to expand the planting acreage going forward by providing growers improved varieties, including introducing herbicide tolerant Camelina to enable better weed control and higher yields over time. Yield10 is currently field-testing herbicide tolerant Camelina varieties for seed scale up, regulatory approval, and commercial development for the biofuel market.
“We look forward to engaging with farmers in the U.S. and Canada to ramp up experience with Camelina and to drive widespread commercial adoption of this promising new oilseed crop,” said Darren Greenfield, Senior Director of Seed Operations at Yield10 Bioscience. “Yield10 is developing relationships across the biofuel supply chain, with one of our key goals being to establish Camelina as a revenue generating crop for farmers, producing a low-carbon intensity source of feedstock oil for transportation and sustainable aviation fuel markets.”
About Camelina sativa
Camelina sativa, commonly known as Camelina or false flax, is an annual oilseed plant in the mustard family that is native to Europe. Camelina has the potential to replicate the development of modern canola from rapeseed on an accelerated timeline based on modern technologies, including genomics and genome editing. Additionally, Camelina grows well on marginal lands, displays early maturation, has enhanced drought and cold tolerance, and requires fewer inputs than other oilseed crops. With social conscience and sustainability in mind, Yield10 is leveraging its innovations in Camelina to use it as a platform crop for producing low-carbon intensity feedstock oil for renewable fuel; omega-3 nutritional oils; high-protein meal; and PHA bioplastic.
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