On Monday, October 9, the Forever Green Initiative was honored to host Jeff Ettinger, Interim President of the University of Minnesota, and Peter Frosch, CEO of Greater MSP. President Ettinger was joined by Shashank Priya, Vice President for Research; Rich Huebsch, Associate VP for Research; Melisa Lopez-Franzen, Executive Director of Government and Community Relations; Brian Buhr, CFANS Dean; and other top UMN leadership. Peter Frosch was joined by his colleagues Matt Lewis and Julia Silvis.
As the guests snacked on Kernza(R) cereal, crackers, and puffs made by food science professor George Annor, Forever Green leaders presented an overview of the platform, followed by a snapshot of progress on Kernza.
Then, the presentation turned toward the winter oilseeds — pennycress and winter camelina — to highlight the importance of Forever Green's basic science and cross-sector collaborations, as well as our potential to directly benefit the environment, the climate, and the regional and state economy. David Marks told the story of how he helped domesticate pennycress from a weed to a crop in under ten years, Jim Anderson gave an update on the pennycress breeding program, and Mattew Ott presented an overview of the winter camelina breeding program.
This tour was very timely, coming just as Forever Green's efforts to pilot winter camelina are ramping up, and as the transportation and energy sectors are ratcheting up their focus on low-carbon biofuels. The winter oilseeds have the potential to produce low-carbon biofuel feedstocks while protecting soil and water, making them one of the first crop-based biofuels to produce substantial co-benefits for the environment. Peter Frosch and Greater MSP have just launched the Minnesota Sustainable Aviation Fuel Hub to bring SAF production to our state. MBOLD, a project of Greater MSP, has been a key partner for Forever Green on winter camelina scaling, so we are poised for deeper engagement with the SAF Hub.
We look forward to working with Peter Frosch, President Ettinger, and other regional leaders to advance this critical climate solution.