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Monday, April 25, 2011

Planting of crop to make biofuel for airplanes stalls in Montana as wheat prices soar

Two years ago the oilseed camelina was a popular crop among Montana farmers looking for the next hot biofuel source, but rising wheat prices have dropped the crop from favor. "The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that last year Montana farmers planted 9,400 acres of camelina, less than half the acres planted just two years ago," Tom Lutey of The Billings Gazette writes. Wheat prices have soared as animal feedlots seek an alternative to corn, which is in short supply.

"I’m not going to wish for cheap wheat to get the camelina acres up, but that’s what it’s going to take," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who five years ago called camelina his "new girlfriend," told Lutey. The oilseed has caught on as possible biofuel for the airline industry. "The Air Force last month broke the speed of sound in an F-22 burning a 50-50 blend of camelina and regular jet fuel," Lutey writes. The Air Force paid nearly $67 per gallon for camelina, leading the RAND Corporation to conclude biofuels were not worth the military's trouble.

For now Montana farmers don't see the incentive in planting camelina. "It’s price," said Logan Fisher, of Earl Fisher Biofuels. "Whatever a farmer can use his acres for to get the best price, that’s what he’s going to do." While the fuel has been proven in commercial airline tests for several years, the certification process is slow going. "Certification could come this summer when the American Society for Testing and Materials meets to consider standardizing biofuels for commercial airlines," Lutey writes. Camelina advocates hope certification will make it easier to get grants for refining and assure farmers the crop has a future. (Read more)

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