Pennycress & Camelina Breeding

Pennycress

Forever Green Initiative. Pennycress: A potential new short season winter oilseed crop for use in Minnesota cropping systems.
Integrated Pennycress Research Enabling Farm & Energy Resilience.

The seeds of field pennycress are oil-rich (>30%) and contain specific fatty acids that can be used for select purposes such as healthy edible oils, biodegradable plastic packaging materials, lubricants, and biofuels. The seed meal that remains after oil processing also has important uses as highly nutritional food and animal feed.

Pennycress poster.

Winter Camelina

Forever Green Initiative. Winter Camelina: A new short season winter annual oilseed crop for use in diverse rotations.

Winter camelina (Camelina sativa), which can be grown in the Midwest in conjunction with traditional summer crops like soybean and corn, is showing exciting potential as a new cash cover crop that can provide both ecosystem services and economic benefits to farmers in the Upper Midwest.

Winter camelina can be sown after harvesting crops like spring wheat or silage corn; or interseeded during summer in field corn, soybean, or sunflower.