Anyone growing crops for oil ?

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I would like to grow sunflowers, and if there was a market for oil, I would get into that for sure.

Are you kidding?  Sunflower seed oil is in high demand for cooking oil.  There are some organic farmers growing it in the finger Lakes and the price per gallon at my food co-op for organically grown pressed sunflower oil is higher than that for extra virgin olive oil!  I think that's terrible, as locally grown and through a co-op is should be at least affordable. It is also the only (vegetable) oil that the Sioux Chef uses in his cookbook.  Healthy and yummy .  I've been buying sunflower oil from Ukraine (though the supply is endangered by the war now)..  

Grow it and they wil come!

Rob Teeter wrote: If your home uses 600 gal of oil per year (conservative estimate), you would have to plant over 17 acres of sunflowers just to keep your house warm. I imagine most farm businesses use quite a bit more than that.

I'm really not convinced that turning any annual crop into biodiesel or ethanol is cost/land efficient for home heating. An RMH or efficient wood-stove and coppiced wood I expect would win out.

However, for running machinery that needs to be mobile, like tractors, it's another matter. As I was reading this, I wondered if anyone had tried to use Horse Chestnuts ( Aesculus hippocastanum ) for biofuel of any sort?
I did find this article: Alternative Fuels from Forestry Biomass Residue: Torrefaction Process of Horse Chestnuts, Oak Acorns, and Spruce Cones, but I haven't read enough of it to understand the term "torrefaction". (https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/10/2468)
Wikipedia says: "Torrefaction of biomass, e.g., wood or grain, is a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically between 200 and 320 °C. Torrefaction changes biomass properties to provide a better fuel quality for combustion and gasification applications."  So it seems you have to experiment to find the best temp for the best results.

At least from the permaculture perspective, Horse Chestnuts aren't people food, are perennial, and are a wonderful shade tree. The question always comes down to how easily it could be processed on a small (homestead or community) scale? I worry about the current tendency that if growing a little is good, then growing acres of monoculture is better. That's led to ugly stuff happening in many places on the planet!

There are many valid reasons to grow sunflowers. I am not convinced that sunflower oil production for biodiesel purposes has a favorable ROI. Retail sale of the oil only nets $1365 per acre on average on the low end. In addition, equipment and infrastructure is needed to plant, harvest, dry, process and store the seed and oil that most small operators do not have. Yes it is possible to burn the stalks. I would rather manage a pollarded tree crop such as willow or alder that would provide substantially more btu's/ hr.

That was my thought Rob. Figuring an average of 50 gal/acre, how much of that 50 is used to produce/harvest the crop? Years back I got excited about biodiesel/veggie oil and after doing the math concluded it just wasn't worth sacrificing the acreage needed to make enough gallons to be justified. There's a reason the government subsidizes ethanol- an acre of corn doesn't produce enough fuel to plant and harvest that acre and still make a profit. It's a whole process of converting solar energy and every step robs some of the potential. We don't even enjoy economies of scale like the big operations.

I've been trying to grow meadowfoam for a couple of years, but never got the germination... I want to try this for an oil crop, it wouldn't impede on my growing land can just let it go wild in a pasture

Anthony Dougherty wrote:I've been trying to grow meadowfoam for a couple of years, but never got the germination... I want to try this for an oil crop, it wouldn't impede on my growing land can just let it go wild in a pasture

Wouldn’t that be great if you could?
How close to your conditions resemble those of Oregon, where meadowfoam flourishes?  Are there specific harvesting equipment and pressing requirements?

All I know about the oil is that it’s very expensive!  I buy it to put in the soap and lotion I make.  It’s wonderful for the skin, and retards oxidation.

Anthony Dougherty wrote:I've been trying to grow meadowfoam for a couple of years, but never got the germination... I want to try this for an oil crop, it wouldn't impede on my growing land can just let it go wild in a pasture

Interesting: LIMNANTHES ALBA

Native to Oregon and northern California, white meadowfoam is sometimes commercially cultivated for its excellent seed oil, which is used in cosmetics, medical ointments, smokeless candles, lubricants for precision machinery, and other specialty products. (Interesting trivia: Meadowfoam oil is considered to be the best plant-based alternative to whale oil, due to its long shelf life and stable chemical properties. The similarity to whale oil is part of what prompted its initial development as a commercial crop!).  

Oil aside, we love this plant for its vigorous cool season growth and ability to tolerate seasonally wet or flooded meadows, emerging in warm spring weather with dense low growing masses of almost blindingly white flowers that are covered in bees and syrphid flies.

In natural settings, this wonderful annual wildflower grows in wet vernal pools (temporary seasonal ponds), and has some ability to tolerate grassy conditions. In locations without a thick layer of thatch, it can re-seed itself, only decreasing when too much dense weedy vegetation crowds it out.

Meadowfoam honey has the famous distinction of tasting like vanilla, or marshmallows, and sometimes commands premium prices.

Meadowfoam is best planted in early autumn or mid- to-late winter.

Northwest Meadowscapes
I've never had any luck growing things like sunflowers that like it hot in the summer. This oil seed might work as a self-seeding annual in some of my low-lying areas that have intermittent standing water in the winter. (Partly depending on the winter in question - this year is relatively dry.) I'm far enough north compared to Oregon that it may not grow here. If it did, I'd try to grow a bit for the neighborhood bees as I'm always looking for things that keep them happy. More research needed, but thanks for the tip, as I'd never heard of it before!

Oil was one of the items I initially had a problem with when I looked at developing a 100 mile radius experiment. But hazel nut orchards did fall within my circle. I have come up with a variety that produces in my area now and just coppiced them for the first time this winter. Sunflowers and some pumpkin/squash seeds produce a nice oil but at the rate I consume them I find that I don't find it worth the effort to break out the petiba and press, one pumpkins worth of seeds for oil so I have a Ziplock in the freezer for a future press. If I was to rely on having to produce all my own oil at some point lard would probably have to be my go-to. If I did have to go to producing my own seed oils the piteba hand crank would receive a pulley upgrade. It's not hard just time consuming after the initial look I'm making oil excitement.

There's a variation: Limnanthes macounii - native to BC
"open places or sparsely treed woodlands, usually <200 m from shore of Pacific Ocean (up to 2 km from shore)"

They're trying to get L macounii to survive the invasion of humans, so they might not like me planting L alba even if it would grow here. I will talk with one of my local plant experts. I wonder how similar the seeds are?

Meadowfoam can give a double harvest.  The honey is delicious!  Tastes like vanilla, and when used to ferment kombucha, the flavor is very like vanilla cream soda.

And then the oil of course.

Greg Martin wrote:Not sure I'll ever get to harvest these, but I'm planting bitternut hickory as an oil crop.  The tannins are not water soluble so the oil just tastes like nice hickory oil.  

I came here to mention the bitternut hickory. I haven't seen one, but there's a Youtube channel for Twisted Tree Farm and the guy there has a video that has me very interested in bitternut hickory as a fuel source.

Some highlights from the video:

Thin shelled, can be tossed through a press with shell on.

The bitterness doesn't stay in the oil

1 five gallon bucket of nuts yields around 3/4 of a gallon of oil

Anyone know a good resource for fatty acid profiles of food oils?

I liked the video on the bitter hickory above, but wonder about its possible omega 6 content.

Thanks

Hi Freyda,

For the most part, I agree about common name vs botanical name clears up any confusion from the get-go, but sometimes it can be cumbersome, like generic names and brand names when talking about pharmaceuticals.

In my post about commercially produced meadowfoam oil, I didn’t use the botanical name because the common name was in use, and I didn’t think there was any confusion needing clarification.

To the best of my knowledge, the commercial crop was developed primarily from Limnanthes alba, but was crossed with more than one subspecies of L floccosa, and I don’t know what else.  In that context, I am not sure calling it Limnanthes alba would be the thing to do, because it might confuse what plant is actually under discussion.

What is your take on botanical names for commercial crops? probably too far off topic for full discussion here.  I’m just interested in your first thoughts.

Thanks

Thekla