Canola Eyed For Michigan Biodiesel

LANSING - Aug 9/07 - MFB -- Alan Garner, a Mason farmer and district director on the Michigan Farm Bureau Board of Directors, joins a small group of agricultural representatives who are headed to Germany to learn whether Europe's production of biodiesel from canola might be feasible in Michigan.

The trip, which will be centered in eastern Germany from Aug. 18-25, is being sponsored by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and Project GREEEN, Michigan's plant agriculture initiative at Michigan State University (MSU). Garner is among a group of six, which includes three other farmers, Eaton County MSU Extension field crops agent George Silva, and Russ Freed, the trip's organizer and an MSU professor of international agronomy.

Canola is a genetic variation of rapeseed developed by Canadian plant breeders that is very low in erucic acid content and high in monounsaturated fatty acids. Presently, very little canola is grown in Michigan, mostly because the closest market for the crop is as vegetable oil in Windsor, Ontario, said Freed.

However in Europe, where twice as much biodiesel is produced as in the United States, canola has become a key ingredient for the production of the alternative fuel, and Freed sees promise for its use in domestic biodiesel production.

Currently, biodiesel in the United States is primarily produced from soybeans, but high costs for soybean oil along with limited yield potential have hampered productivity and cut into biodiesel profits.

Freed says canola is advantageous over soybeans for a number of reasons, a main one being that canola contains twice as much oil as soybeans. On average, canola has more than 40% oil content and 20% protein, he said, whereas the reverse is true in soybeans.

In addition, biodiesel produced from canola oil flows in gas lines at lower temperatures than soybean-based biodiesel, which starts to crystallize at around zero degrees Celsius.

In Germany, the group will meet with canola seed producers and visit biodiesel production facilities. Among other things, the group will "see their equipment, learn their cropping rotations and find out how they store and market the crop," said Freed.

He said there may also be a chance to test in Michigan some of the hybrid canola varieties produced by the companies they visit. Currently, hybrid canola varieties made by another company are being tested here and are "doing well," he said.

According to Freed, canola hybrids from Germany have produced over 70 bushels an acre in Michigan. He says hybrid varieties offer high yield potential for farmers at over 3,000 pounds an acre.

Garner said he's open to the idea of investigating new market opportunities for Michigan agriculture, saying "if we do increase biodiesel production in this country, it makes sense that canola could be a very viable feedstock." First, though, there are lots of questions in need of answers, he said.

In Germany, Garner said he'll be examining things from a farmer's perspective. In other words, asking, "Is canola really viable for me to produce?"

Among the many questions at the top of Garner's mind leading into the trip include: How do the new hybrid canola varieties compare to the canola varieties heavily touted 20 years ago? What does it cost a farmer to grow canola? Who do you sell to and just how big is the market? And would the existing soybean-based biodiesel plants currently operating in the United States be able to accept canola or would the plants have to be converted?

In addition to biodiesel production, Freed says canola offers many other "value-added" possibilities for Michigan farmers, and he notes that the crop can be grown in both the winter and spring.

"Canola could be an important crop to help Michigan diversify its agriculture, complement its cropping systems, and maintain a profitable and vibrant rural sector," said Freed. "Canola has the potential to improve our economy, health, environment and agricultural systems."

Copyright (c) 2007 Michigan Farm Bureau