Final Results of 2020 SARE Farmer-Rancher Grant Project

The camelina grew well, despite an unusually challenging season due to drought and insect troubles.  Weather station near the form reports less than 4" of precipitation during January-September of 2021.  

Some farmer observations:

• This crop was planted in a field with center-pivot irrigation, and included the dry corners.  Growth in these non-irrigated portions of the field was minimal.  
• The crop was no-till planted into previous year's crop residues.   Half of this was corn, the other half was no-tilled barley.  

This camelina crop was planted adjacent to a crop of winter wheat.  They were planted at the same time, and neither crop was treated for weeds.  Some comparisons from the season are:

• Winter wheat appeared to do a better job with weed control.  Weeds observed included wild lettuce (Lactuca spp.), redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), and lambsquarter (Chenopodium album)
• Camelina matured much earlier than the winter wheat.  Camelina maturation date was recorded as 6/28/2021 though it may have been mature a little earlier.  The winter wheat was harvested on 6/22/2021, earlier than would have been ideal even for forage, due to drought.  It was not anywhere near maturation.
• Nitrogen use by the camelina was much lower than by the wheat.  The post-harvest soil test showed residual nitrate-N was 9.1 ppm N on the camelina and 4.5 ppm N on the winter wheat.  

Wildlife, bird and insect behaviors were a bit anomalous this year due to the extreme drought in the area.  Mule deer, white-tailed deer, and other animals were observed in the irrigated fields throughout the season.  Some specific observations:

• Early in the season, the canada geese spent a lot of time in the winter wheat and left bald spots in the field due to their foraging.  They were never observed in the camelina.
• Deer appeared to enjoy the cover of both crops.

Pollinators (specifically honeybees; domestic hives are located about 3/4 mile from the field:

• Insect scouting was done with sweep nets 3 times during the season, beginning when camelina flowering was noted, 5/22/2021.  This first sweep showed a dramatic difference:  More than 60 bees were observed in the net from the camelina (count was approximate because the bees were numerous and angry), compared to 3 in the winter wheat.  The intended comparison with an adjacent alfalfa crop was not successful because the alfalfa flowers had all been destroyed by weevils; no bees were captured in that sweep. Subsequent sweeps (post-bloom) found 3 and 4 bees, respectively, in the camelina and none in the wheat.  Diversity of other insects was greater in the camelina.  See description of this experience in Jenny's blog

Costs of production:

• Seed:

Yields:

• The harvested camelina is still on the truck, waiting to be taken to the mill for cleaning, at which time it will be weighed and yields reported.
• The harvested yield was less than it would otherwise have been due to difficulty of finding a combiner willing to take on such a small crop.  There was a breakdown, a storm, etc. 
• Camelina is difficult to combine, due to its tendency to shatter.  Our partner farmer commented "it looks like most of the camelina ended up on the ground".  Increasing the efficiency of harvest would be a great area of further research on this crop