Next week the governor of a US Pacific Northwest state will announce that farmers will plant a crop called camelina, said Tom Todaro, the CEO of private agricultural biotech company Targeted Growth, Inc. His company has bred camelina to increase its yields.
Camelina, which people once grew to fuel oil lamps, should not spark much competition with land used to grow food crops because it can be grown on fallow land unsuitable for most other crops, said Todaro.
"It is hopefully the first generation of the promise people make on helping solve the fuel versus food debate,"
Ultimately, camelina may generate only up to 10 percent of US biodiesel, so certainly it alone won't solve the problem of biofuels pushing up food prices, said Todaro.
But it could be one of many non-food fixes that have eventually have potential to take market share from US energy made from food crops,
Camelina, which people once grew to fuel oil lamps, should not spark much competition with land used to grow food crops because it can be grown on fallow land unsuitable for most other crops, said Todaro.
"It is hopefully the first generation of the promise people make on helping solve the fuel versus food debate,"
Ultimately, camelina may generate only up to 10 percent of US biodiesel, so certainly it alone won't solve the problem of biofuels pushing up food prices, said Todaro.
But it could be one of many non-food fixes that have eventually have potential to take market share from US energy made from food crops,