While corn, soybeans and wheat dominate Minnesota’s fields each summer, winter-hardy annual crops hold great potential to augment current crop rotations, providing new cash cover crops for the state’s agricultural sector. In this AURI Connects: Fields of Innovation webinar we discuss new market opportunities for two promising winter oilseed crops: winter camelina and pennycress. We will be joined by university and industry experts currently working to develop and commercialize these cover crops.
- Winter Camelina: is an oil seed crop dating to pre-Roman times. It produces a high-quality edible oil with very high levels of D-linolenic acid, which is a heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid, and tocopherol that adds nutritive value and long shelf-life to its oil. It can also serve as a companion crop to soybeans and in small grain rotations.
- Pennycress: is an extremely hardy winter oilseed. Pennycress oil is exceptionally cost-effective for making advanced biofuels. While traditional field pennycress is nonedible, researchers are developing new varietals with potential for human and animal nutrition uses.
Learn more about winter oilseed crops, their potential uses, and how cash cover crops can provide producers with both economical and sustainable options to diversify crop rotations, protect and improve soil health, and grow new markets.
Run Time: 1:03:58