Global Clean Energy announces advancements in herbicide-resistant camelina varieties

Camelina

Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. announced Nov. 15 key advancements to accelerate adoption of camelina in areas with higher use of two key herbicide groups, Group 2 and Group 14.

This development will allow the company’s patented camelina varieties to be planted in fields treated with residual herbicides, previously off limits to planting of camelina.

A new Global Clean Energy camelina variety has confirmed resistance to imazamox and imazethapyr, the active ingredients in Beyond and Pursuit (Group 2 herbicides).

The commercial launch of this new herbicide-resistant camelina variety is expected in 2025.

Additionally, Global Clean Energy has tested over 6,000 lines from its camelina-tilling library and found tolerance to PPO herbicides (Group 14), such as sulfentrazone contained in Spartan and Sonic herbicides.

The company is initiating introgression of this trait across elite lines in an accelerated breeding program.

“Our advancements in herbicide resistance and tolerance will allow us to target new production areas while accelerating famer adoption, making it easier to grow camelina and build upon Global Clean Energy’s record camelina contracted acreage of 65,000 acres worldwide in 2023,” said Mike Karst, senior vice president of Global Clean Energy and president of Sustainable Oils, the company’s upstream subsidiary.

Camelina is a resilient oilseed that provides cover-crop benefits to land as it is grown, has a quick maturity and does not displace food and feed crops, while generating additional revenue for growers on otherwise idle or fallow acres.

Camelina is tolerant to cold weather, uses low amounts of water and can be sown and harvested using farmers’ existing equipment.

Global Clean Energy said it has over 20 years of camelina-breeding history and is dedicated to developing and delivering superior, diverse genetics that provide farmers the most suitable high-yielding camelina varieties for their growing conditions.

The company has developed a proprietary collection of over 25,000 camelina genotypes possessing naturally divergent traits and a tilling library of over 8,000 distinct mutant lines using conventional non-GMO techniques.

Global Clean Energy’s 20 patented camelina varieties include both spring and winter varieties with a suite of traits to enable camelina cultivation as an intermediate crop in a wide range of geographies and crop rotations.

They are commercially available in the U.S. through Global Clean Energy’s subsidiary Sustainable Oils, Inc., as well as in South America, and throughout Europe through its subsidiary Camelina Company.