Fields of canola will replace wheat and barley on some northeast Oregon farms this year. Oil from the canola seeds will then be converted into biodiesel for furnace oil at a crushing plant and a conversion plant owned by Pendleton Grain Growers (PGG), an agricultural cooperative serving Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa counties.
The two plants will give the cooperative the option of making food-grade oil as well as fuel oil. "We want to be able to do both," says Reed Stewart, pump and irrigation manager for PGG.
Canola will provide a rotation crop for wheat growers, helping fight weeds and disease. In addition, byproducts from oil production can be sold. These include hulls, which can be sold as high-protein feed, and glycerin, which is used to make soaps.
PGG hopes to eventually produce 1.2 million gallons of biodiesel a year from 15,000 acres of canola; however, it plans to start small, producing closer to 20,000 gallons
of biodiesel this year.
Learn more on the PGG website, or read about statewide efforts to cultivate Oregon's sustainable energy industry.