Global Clean Energy Breaks Records with Largest Camelina Crop Acreage Worldwide

On October 4, Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. proudly announced a monumental achievement – cultivating a staggering 65,000 acres of camelina crop during the 2023 growing season. This remarkable milestone was realized through the collaborative efforts of its subsidiaries, Sustainable Oils, Inc. (North America) and Camelina Company (Europe and South America), as they established a new global record in camelina acreage.

A robust oilseed crop, camelina is essential to producing renewable and sustainable aviation fuels. It’s an intermediate crop, strategically grown between planting cycles on otherwise idle or fallow land. Beyond its inherent agricultural advantages, it generates substantial incremental revenue for growers. In rural farm communities, this additional income is particularly vital.
What sets camelina apart is its minimal environmental footprint. As an intermediate crop, it doesn’t contribute to land use changes, resulting in one of the lowest carbon intensities among all available feedstocks.

Global Clean Energy boasts the world’s most extensive camelina variety portfolio, including spring and winter varieties. This versatility enables camelina’s integration into diverse crop rotations and geographical regions. In the U.S., Sustainable Oils predominantly cultivates camelina as a spring crop, replacing fallow land in cereal-fallow rotations across the Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest. In the High Plains of the U.S. and South America, camelina thrives as a winter crop, offering opportunities for double cropping alongside soybeans, late corn, or sorghum. Meanwhile, Camelina Company grows camelina as a summer crop in Europe, following cereal or pulse harvests.

Mike Karst, Senior Vice President of Global Clean Energy and President of Sustainable Oils, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “This record-breaking year for camelina has been over a decade in the making.” He emphasized the company’s 15 years of experience in breeding and cultivating camelina, now gaining recognition among growers for its potential benefits to both fields and profits.

Steve and Wanda McIntosh of SW & Crew Farms in Havre, Montana, shared their success story: “The income generated from our camelina harvest supports our family and farm in many ways. We’ve planted Sustainable Oils camelina for the last four years and plan to plant it again in 2024. Thanks to camelina, we’ve added a new crop to our rotation, increasing our profitability and reducing our risk.”

Notably, Sustainable Oils’ farmers enjoyed record camelina yields this year, reaching 1,900 pounds per acre. With Global Clean Energy’s higher-yield varieties set to hit the market in 2024, expectations are high that next year’s camelina harvest may surpass the remarkable results in 2023.
Mike Karst envisions a future where camelina acreage scales exponentially world-wide as more farmers recognize the unique benefits of this crop. This, in turn, will establish camelina as a genuinely sustainable feedstock for the renewable fuel industry.