ARS | Publication request: Building a lasting partnership - small-scale canola biodiesel experiment may go big

Submitted to: U.S. Canola Digest
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: May 1, 2011
Publication Date: June 1, 2011
Citation: Young, F.L. 2011. Building a lasting partnership - small-scale canola biodiesel experiment may go big. U.S. Canola Digest. Vol 3 Number 1:18-19.

Technical Abstract: In 2006, the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) of north central Washington, with assistance from USDA-ARS, hand-planted several rows of spring canola in Omak, Washington on Tribal land. The objective of this small-scale experiment was to determine if canola could be grown in this region to ultimately supply biodiesel to the Tribe’s 140+ logging trucks, school buses, and other vehicles. Results of this experiment were promising and in 2007 USDA-ARS established a long-term project in the region to evaluate alternative oilseed crops for their economic viability, agronomic feasibility, and market diversification in farming systems. Initial research has focused on winter canola, which scientists felt would yield higher than spring canola and could be adopted easily by growers into their winter wheat-fallow system.