b'Chris mentioned camelina, which your company spe- all those expensive inputs and expensive seed cializes in. What is so special about this oilseed? costs. Weve been breeding this very interesting crop for almost 20 years, but its a crop thats beenYou mentioned camelina having some genetic ties to around for thousands of years. If you take a lookSiberia. Why is that important here?Jack Grushcow at the historical record back as far as NeanderthalOver the millennia, certain landraces of this CEO, Smartman, Vikings, Egyptians and the ancient Romans,oilseed have developed to require true vernali-Earth Camelina the point of origin of this crop is in the east- zation. They need to be frozen in the fall and ern Mediterranean, and actually all the way upthawed out in the spring to grow. Its the only to Siberiaits one of the very few broadleafoilseed that we know of that can actually survive annual winter crops that survives the winter.consistently over the winter in the northern tier We like the crop because its very well suited tostates and Western Canada. We plant in the fall, dryland production in Western Canada. Its frostit gets to a small stage, it freezes. As soon as the tolerant in the early stages and drought tolerantspring comes, it starts to grow again. later, and its a lower-input crop. Whats the outlook for this crop in terms of biofuel Why could it make good biofuel? feedstock?From a carbon intensity point of view, it ticks aIf you take a look at all the big players that have lot of boxes that people are looking for in biofuelbeen building these huge processing facili-feedstocks. When we started breeding this crop,ties that Chris touched on, where is the feed-it didnt have a lot of the agronomics that youdstock going to come from? Im a big believer want an oilseed to have to be competitive. Smallin following trends. Renewable Energy Corp. seeded, no disease resistance, no herbicide resist- was purchased by Chevron a few months ago. ance. With our conventional breeding programNow, Chevron has announced huge increases over the years, we were able to increase the seedin renewable biofuels. They need feedstock. size by over 40 per cent without a yield drag,Camelina is a great fit. Its part of the solution; which is significant because if you know any- not the entire solution itself, because the scale of thing about oilseed breeding in general, typicallythe total feedstock requirement is so overwhelm-seed size is negatively correlated to oilseed yield.ing. Were the leader in camelina development. We were also able to develop a variety thatWeve been doing it for 20 years. Its a super has quantitative resistance to downy mildew,exciting time for our company. which is one of the few things that bothers this crop. Its taken us a decade and we just released a real game changer for the crop, which is a broadleaf Group 2 herbicide tolerance. We feel the crop is now really able to take its placeTune into our full-length webinar on this very topic by visiting among oilseed rotations.germination.ca/biofuelsWhat kind of growing zones are we talking about?Typically, our sweet spot for production is thePOLLSdrier, lighter soils where canola typically will yield 25 to 30 bushels an acre, and were veryWill the Clean Fuel Regulations impact your business?competitive in that regard. Camelina will yield the same, but our seed costs are significantly lower and our input costs lower, so its more66% 34%favourable to thegrowers bottom line in areas where they wouldnt normally get their 50 bushelYes Unsurean acre canola, and they could defray the cost of SUPPORTED BY: ENDORSED BY:34GERMINATION.CANOVEMBER 2022'