Community Biodiesel Project  

Community-Minded Enterprises is currently creating a regional educational and job development project that will stimulate small-scale biodiesel processing and create incentives for growing oilseed crops on marginal agricultural land. 

Community Scale Biodiesel Plan

Here is the final report for the Community Scale Biodiesel Project.

About Biodiesel

Biodiesel is an organic alternative to petroleum-based fuel. Made from sustainable and renewable resources, biodiesel minimizes negative impacts on natural ecosystems. As an environmentally-friendly fuel alternative, biodiesel is biodegradable and nontoxic, and it reduces carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other harmful emissions.

Today the biodiesel industry is seeing incredible, exponential growth. Large-scale, monocrop agriculture is a detriment to our ecosystems and environment. The sustainability of fuels that come from a monocrop system is questionable, and from an ecological point of view, is short-sighted. Localized small-scale production of biodiesel offers a simple entry point for community-based social entrepreneurs. With more localized production and distribution of biodiesel comes greater energy efficiency, more control over farming practices, and new jobs. As a result, communities are benefited, farmers make more money, and local economies are strengthened. 

Why Oilseed Crops?

We are encouraging local farmers to cultivate Camelina, an oilseed member of the mustard family, which grows well in the marginal agricultural lands of Eastern Washington and requires minimal management. Some of the benefits of growing oilseed crops include:

• Camelina is a hardy plant which releases a very high oil yield when crushed. It can be grown in the Inland Northwest with minimal effort on managed soil. 
• Camelina's crushed meal can be an effective soil amendment and should soon be federally approved for livestock usage.
• Develops local industry for biofuel, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.
• Provides effective, low-cost weed control.

How Would Landowners Benefit from Participation?

Partnerships with landowners are the key to this community-energy research project.  We are working with Inland Northwest farmers willing to grow oilseed crops on land not used for food production.  Click to hear why one local landowner decided to grow camelina and partner with Community-Minded Enterprises.

Pilot Project growers will receive:

• Free first year's supply of camelina seed.
• Technical assistance for organizing planting, harvesting, storage and transportation resources. 
• Business planning assistance.
• Facilitation in developing local cooperatives for oilseed crop production and biodiesel processing.
• Possible supplemental income from selling the seed. 
• Experience growing an important new crop that should generate much future interest nationally.
• A benefit for some landowners is that growing camelina allows undeveloped land to be reclassified as agricultural use for property tax savings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Will this program compete with food and hay crops?
A:  No, the goal of this Community-Minded Energy program is to use land not currently in food production, or as a rotation crop.

Q:  What happens to the seed once harvested?
A:  After drying and possibly cleaning the harvested seed, it would be transported to a crushing plant in Deer Park, WA. The oil production from crushing would then be converted into biodiesel for local usage.

Q:  What are the market conditions for camelina?
A:  This research project is best suited for volunteer growers who do not need an immediate and guaranteed amount of profit on the camelina crop sales. Currently, the FDA is considering approval of camelina meal as feed for live-stock.

Q:  What is the timeline for this pilot project?
A:  Till the soil, fall 2008 or spring 2009
     Sow the seed in March or April 2009
     Harvest in August 2009

For more information contact:

Shallan Dawson
(509) 209-2627
shalland@community-minded.org