Winter camelina is a promising winter annual, intermediate oilseed crop that has multiple benefits for agriculture in the Upper Midwest. Winter camelina covers the soil during critical fall and spring periods of precipitation, preventing soil erosion and nutrient leaching, and yields a commercially-viable oilseed harvest for farmers that is in demand for renewable fuels and other uses. It is one of over 15 “continuous living cover” crops under development by the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative, in partnership with growing ranks of cross-sector partners.
Between summer of 2023 and the end of 2024, MBOLD partnered with Forever Green to document learnings from the 2023-2024 two-thousand acre commercial winter camelina pilot in the Upper Midwest. This collaboration marked the second round of partnership and funding from MBOLD to Forever Green to support winter camelina piloting.
The jointly-produced report, Reflections on the 2023-2024 Piloting of Winter Camelina: Lessons and Implications for Further Scaling summarizes these learnings. It includes critical reflections on field-scale production of winter camelina, highlighting agronomic considerations, weather challenges, observations for continued breeding of the crop, and potential pathways for further scaling and commercial uptake. Multi-stakeholder commercialization efforts including a dedicated offtake partner for producers were key to the early success and adoption of this continuous living cover crop at-scale.