Seed technology firm Nuseed is hoping successful UK trials of new Brassica carinata varieties over the next two years will offer growers a new combinable crop opportunity to help boost farm income and contribute to sustainability targets.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is now at the top of every industry’s agenda, and one sector that will find it particularly tough is aviation, with electric passenger flights a long way from take-off.

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Hydrogen-powered aircraft could be a reality as early as the mid-2030s, but there are many hurdles to overcome and the fuel is likely to be restricted initially to short- and medium-haul flights.

Kerosene reliant

That leaves airlines reliant for now on carbon dioxide-emitting kerosene, and to offset some of the emissions created burning the fossil fuel, governments are setting targets for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) use.

SAF is blended with kerosene at different levels, depending on the feedstock – coming from sugar crops, oilseed crops and animal fats – and how it is produced.

In the UK, the government has committed to 10% SAF use by 2030 and that will continue to grow until 2050, when the industry aims to reach net zero.

Similarly, the European Parliament and Council recently reached political agreement on the ReFuelEU Aviation proposal, which aims to decarbonise the aviation sector in the 27 EU member countries with increasing amounts of SAF from 2025.

It will start with 2% of overall fuel supplied at EU airports by 2025, before ratcheting up to 70% by 2050.

Growing opportunity

One oilseed species that can be used as an SAF feedstock is Brassica carinata, as its high erucic and linoleic acid content, combined with less than 7% saturated fatty acids, requires minimal processing to make high-quality biofuel.

Nuseed – a sister company to crop protection company Nufarm – acquired Canadian firm Agrisoma in 2019, which had a strong carinata breeding programme and last year produced its first hybrid for the Americas: Nujet 400.

Until now, Nuseed’s carinata varieties have only been commercialised in South America and the southern US, but development programmes are advancing quickly in Australia and Europe.

Nuseed is involved in Carina, a European Union supported project – within the Horizon Europe research programme – which focuses on two new oilseed crops, namely carinata and camelina for use in the bio-based economy.

Carina trials in 2023 have or will be established on marginal sites, or in intercropping or relay cropping systems, with drill dates ranging from spring (April/May) to autumn (September-November).

There are sites in several European countries including Italy, France, Spain, Serbia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Greece, along with Morocco and Turkey.

Testing partners

Nuseed European sales and marketing director Damien Grundy tells Farmers Weekly that the firm is also looking for testing partners in the UK, as it believes there is potential for it to be produced here.

It’s hoped that after two to three years of small plot and commercial scale research, the company will be able to offer closed-loop growing contracts to UK farmers.

Harvested oilseed will be transported straight to one of oilseed processing giant Saipol’s crushing sites in France. It is expected that Saipol will take care of all logistics.

The project is being turbocharged by a 10-year co-operation agreement with oil giant BP, which aims to accelerate market adoption of carinata. BP will also purchase all carinata oil produced over the duration of the agreement.

“We need to do the work and need some time to get it right. Nuseed has a responsibility to ensure farmers can grow it successfully and can offer the correct advice on growing processes and procedures.

“But it’s really exciting to potentially have a new opportunity to bring to the industry,” says Damien.

Cover crop

So, where does Nuseed see it fitting into crop rotations?

In Argentina and other areas where it is being grown successfully, carinata is drilled on marginal land out of food crop production, or in between main cash crops as a cover crop, says Nuseed’s carinata R&D agronomist Augustina Sans.

Used in this way, where it doesn’t take the place of any food crops, it is estimated that there are some 170m hectares of accessible land across North America and Europe for carinata production.

Yields are typically 1-2t/ha. Nuseed says it will structure contracts in a way that ensures a return on investment and claims growers will get all the benefits of catch or cover crop, including moisture and nutrient retention, and biodiversity improvements.

“It has a very big tap root, so it allows us to improve the structure of the soil, and its canopy – with a high green leaf area – is good at capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fixing it in the soil through the root system.

“Carinata is quite resistant to diseases and up to this point we have not experienced any issues in our trials so far,” adds Augustina.

Low input

Damien adds that because the objective of carinata-derived aviation fuel is reducing carbon emissions, carinata growing protocols for contracts will encourage farmers to use as little fossil fuel or synthetic crop inputs as possible.

In practical terms, that means little or no cultivation during establishment, more reliance on organic fertiliser rather than bagged, and as few crop protection sprays as possible to ensure a reasonable yield.

“Payments will be linked to carbon emissions. You must record all inputs into the crop and the more fertiliser or sprays you use, the less the farmer will receive.

“It’s about producing sustainable fuel and that means using sustainable farming practices, so the less artificial input, the better.”

The most significant concern when growing carinata in the UK is cold temperature, with prolonged lows of about -7C having the potential to kill off crops in the winter.

“That’s why we are keen to try different establishment dates in our development work. We also hope to look at broadcasting into cereal crops in June to harvest in late Autumn, which would avoid any frost problems. We are thinking that is the best window for the UK.”

Environmental schemes

Hutchinsons agronomist and services leader Matt Ward says that grown as a single species cover crop, rather than a multispecies mix, growing carinata wouldn’t be eligible for payments through the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

“We desperately need alternative break crops that are a success in their own right, but the worry is that it’ll suffer from similar problems as oilseed rape, like flea beetle, as it is a brassica.

“Clubroot is another issue, so if there is already a significant area of brassicas in the rotation, you certainly wouldn’t want to grow another one,” notes Matt.

Asked about the potential of growing carinata in between cash crops, he sees it as unlikely with the broadacre rotations that presently dominate the UK.

He is also sceptical about broadcasting carinata seed into standing crops in the summer, with experience suggesting small-seeded species need to be drilled like any cash crop would be.

A possibility could be drilling immediately after an early harvested crop like vining peas in May, with the fast-developing carinata harvested in October before establishing a winter wheat crop.

On farms producing feedstock for an anaerobic digestion plant, another slot might be in May or June immediately after whole crop forage rye. It could then be followed by another wheat or AD that autumn or the following spring.

“There would be soil health benefits and if you could make double cropping work it would be quite exciting for the grower.

“But would many want to be harvesting an oilseed crop and drilling so late? Perhaps if you were in southeast England with lighter soils, it would work. That is what our research will aim to find out.”