Seeding innovation

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.