Counting On Canola: High School District Farm Hoping For Biodiesel Cash Crop

FIELD WORK: Students work a field at the Shasta Union High School District Farm late last month. The district and Shasta College have partnered with the California Community College Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Initiative to grow canola seed as an experimental fuel crop.

Photo courtesy of Kayla Corson

By Rob Rogers (Contact)
Monday, November 5, 2007

FIELD WORK: Students work a field at the Shasta Union High School District Farm late last month. The district and Shasta College have partnered with the California Community College Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Initiative to grow canola seed for an experimental alternative fuel project.

Ross Hamilton was just looking for a cheaper way to fuel his farm equipment.

What he ended up with is a cutting-edge biodiesel project that ultimately could become a state model for farmers to grow their own fuel.

"The state wants this to be a beta site," said Suzanne Clark, assistant project director with Shasta College's Small Business Development Center.

Hamilton is Shasta Union High School District's agriculture department chair and runs the district's 25-acre farm off Eastside Road south of downtown Redding.

Last month, he and agriculture teacher Noah Corp had their students plant 3 acres with canola, a special type of rapeseed related to mustard. Processed canola oil can be used as biodiesel.

"It's a big experiment," Hamilton said.

If the canola grows, Hamilton, Corp and their students will harvest the seeds in late May or early June and convert them into biodiesel to be used in the farm's trucks and tractors.

It's experimental for a couple of reasons, Hamilton said. The farm is the first one in the north state to grow the crop and is doing it on nonirrigated fields.

Redding.com, Nov. 5, 2007