In an effort to meet future needs for sustainable aviation fuels and enable the aviation sector to engage with the decarbonisation pathway set by the European Commission, Saipol launched the intercrop market early 2024. Saipol identified camelina’s potential for intercropping back in 2018, and these intercrops are one of the solutions in the energy mix that can help decarbonise the aviation industry. To support the development of this new intercrop, Saipol has implemented a number of incentives in 2024 to encourage many farmers to take a greater interest in this year’s full-scale pilot project.
With the aim of paving the way for an increase in volume from 2025 onwards, Saipol, together with around 10 grain elevator companies, has committed almost 2,000 hectares for camelina intercrops throughout France. Although it is still too early to determine the actual surface area that can be harvested due to the extremely wet weather conditions when the seeds were sown, the plots in 2024 will be used to consolidate the technical specifications for the years to come. Farmers and elevator companies interested in introducing this intercrop into their rotations in 2025 should get in touch now.
– A GOLDEN RULE : ANTICIPATING
One of the keys to successfully growing camelina intercrops is choosing the right preceding crop. Camelina should be planted after an early-harvesting main crop, such as high-protein peas, peas for canning, early wheat and/or winter barley, so that it can be sown before 10 July and harvested some 90 to 100 days later. Choosing a barley or wheat variety that produces very little straw is known to help camelina crops grow, whose sowing can be greatly disrupted by the amount of straw on the ground. In addition, camelina should ideally be sown within 24 hours of harvesting to take advantage of the residual moisture in the soil, which decreases rapidly in the hours following harvest. Every day matters, because “one day lost at sowing after harvesting the previous crop is equivalent to five days lost at harvest,” explains Guillaume de la Forest, Camelina Project Manager at Saipol. Therefore, farmers need to choose a main crop with an early harvest so that they can sow camelina intercrops at the ideal time to enable it to close its cycle quickly, without affecting the conditions for sowing the following crop.
Camelina intercrops must be managed with the same care and attention as the main crop. A number of technical considerations, such as the seeding depth, have been covered in a set of specifications produced alongside Arvalis and Terres Inovia. To ensure ideal harvesting conditions, combine harvester settings have also been documented in a guide for farmers on Saipol’s camelina programme (available on request). Collecting bodies play a key role in supporting farmers in applying these methods, as well as with transporting, storing, cleaning and drying these tiny seeds. Saipol’s grain elevator partners who signed up in 2024 and have been identified for 2025 will be the first to benefit from the analyses and feedback from the field as from this autumn.
Therefore, anticipation can be broken down into three points for farmers :
- Choose a suitable preceding crop
- Be capable of sowing camelina within 24 hours of harvesting, and
- Get in touch with their elevator company.
Elevator companies will need to contact Saipol at the earliest opportunity to check their eligibility (sustainability certification) and calibrate the seed order with our dedicated supplier, namely Camelina Company.
– A FIRST STEP IN RAMPING UP THE SURFACE AREA
To support this market’s growth and encourage as many stakeholders as possible to engage with this new initiative in its inaugural year, Saipol is offering farmers a guaranteed minimum price of €600/t in 2024 for clean (maximum 2% impurities) and dry (maximum 9% moisture) seed meeting Saipol’s sustainability conditions, as well as financial support for collecting bodies. In addition to providing such a significant remuneration package, Saipol has also introduced a “harvest guarantee” of €100/hectare for any unharvested areas grown in compliance with the specifications. Saipol has yet to define its support arrangements for 2025, but they will build on the experience in 2024 with the aim of gradually involving new farmers and elevator companies, and thereby meeting part of the need for sustainable aviation fuels. After targeting 2,000 tons of seed this year, Saipol is now aiming to scale up the volume of camelina intercrops.
– INTERCROPPING : ONE OF THE SOLUTIONS FOR DRIVING EUROPE’S STRATEGY OF DECARBONISING THE AVIATION INDUSTRY
To achieve the EU’s regulatory target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, companies supplying aviation fuel to EU airports will have to blend increasing amounts of sustainable fuels in the volumes distributed, whether intercrop-based or synthetic fuels. The EU Regulation means that suppliers of aviation fuels to European airports with passenger traffic higher than 800,000 will have to incorporate a minimum of 2% sustainable fuels from 1 January 2025, then 6% in 2030, 20% in 2035 and up to 70% in 2050, so intercrops face the prospect of a promising future. “While few crops currently tick all the boxes, Saipol is looking at other species that could be grown between two main crops,” concludes Guillaume de la Forest.
