US agricultural bioscience company Yield10 Bioscience has granted a global licence to Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds for herbicide-tolerant camelina as a feedstock oil for biofuels.
As part of the partnership, Yield10 said it would supply Vision with spring and winter camelina varieties including varieties that were herbicide tolerant to broadleaf herbicide glufosinate and soil residual Group 2 herbicides.
Under the licence, Vision would have a three-year licence to commercialise the traits and varieties for use in biofuels, Yield10 said on 14 February.
After three years, Vision’s licence would convert to non-exclusive status worldwide, Yield10 said.
Yield10 said it would retain the right to sub-license the camelina traits and varieties and to continue to utilise and develop camelina to produce omega-3 oil and other camelina oil and meal products.
“With this licence, we’ll be able to significantly expand our contract production of camelina suited for use as a cover crop or in rotation with other commercial crops,” Vision CEO Don Panter said.
“In 2024, we plan to sample this herbicide tolerance system with some of our key camelina growers, while … building planting seed supply to support a potential commercial launch in 2025.”
A joint venture between S&W Seed Company and Equilon Enterprises, Vision Bioenergy Oilseeds is a US agricultural company with a focus on producing crops such as camelina sativa as primary feedstocks for ultra-low carbon biofuels.
Woburn-headquartered Yield10 develops crop systems and uses its ‘Trait Factory’ to develop improved camelina varieties.
According to its website, the company’s goal is to establish a high-value seed products business based on developing camelina varieties for the production of feedstock oils, nutritional oils, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) bioplastics, and to license its yield traits to major seed companies for commercialisation in row crops, including canola, corn and soyabean.
In November, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s ’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) gave approval for Yield10’s glufosinate tolerant camelina, as well as its stacked herbicide tolerant camelina, to be grown and bred in the USA.
An application to add camelina to a glufosinate label is pending with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
