Company planting camelina crops for biodiesel

GreenBayPressGazette.com
By Nathan Phelps • nphelps@greenbaypressgazette.com • August 19, 2009

An upstart seed and biodiesel plant is harvesting the first seed crop of camelina — the plant that makes up the basis of the biofuel of the same name — in eastern Wisconsin today.

JR Camelina Seed Co. will start harvesting the seeds in a plot near Marytown in Calumet County with the intention to plant thousands of acres in the state next year.

Ultimately, camelina is expected to feed a not-yet-built biodiesel plant in the town of Holland near Greenleaf, said George Ecker, the seed company and biodiesel plant's business manager.

"There are companies out there that are already very eager to buy this biodiesel from us; trucking companies and bus lines, for instance," he said. "It gets blended with diesel."

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