By Ag-West Bio
Saskatchewan growing green
Hot button Issues
The concept of environmental sustainability resonates in Saskatchewan, a province that relies heavily on natural resources for the economy. With almost half of Canada’s agricultural land and nearly half the province covered in forest, agriculture, forestry and mining are the major industries here. The greentech industry has been building for 20 years. In the late ’80s, with the farm economy at a low, there was a push by the scientific community and the Ministry of Agriculture to create new markets for agricultural crops. Researchers got to work, producing new crop varieties and innovative technologies. Businesses have come to life based
on years of research into fuels, bio-industrial oils, bioproducts and processes, remediation technologies and crop protection. Ron Kehrig, sector manager, Biofuels, Bioproduction and Forestry for Enterprise Saskatchewan, has been involved in building the bioproducts industry for the better part of two decades. He says the average person is very aware of the environmental implications of water and energy use and the impact of products – and knowledgeable about greentech. “If you think you can just get by with ‘marketing green’ or ‘green-washing’ today, you may be in for a surprise.” In addition, he says today’s green products can deliver sound performance and sustainability. “There’s no trade-off needed between the environment and a good product.” Saskatchewan’s technology infrastructure can provide much of what developing companies need in the bioproducts and bioprocessing space. Activities are supported by a research cluster on the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) campus in Saskatoon, including the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), National Research Council (NRC), the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and POS Bio-Sciences. Innovation Place research park houses numerous companies and is often a focal point for industry interactions.
marginal land in dry conditions and were once primarily grown for food. These hardy plants show great potential as feedstocks for industrial products. A Genome Prairie project called Prairie Gold focuses on these crops. Research is being conducted by AAFC, NRC and two companies; Linnaeus Plant Sciences’ goal is to create valueadded, renewable, biodegradable industrial oils and value-added bioproducts from camelina, as alternatives to petrochemical-based feedstocks, while Agrisoma Biosciences is developing carinata for use as aviation fuel.
Flying high on carinata Aviation companies around the world are aiming to be carbon-neutral by the year 2020, and bio-based fuels are being explored as a way to reach that goal. Agrisoma, the industry lead for Prairie Gold, is developing carinata specifically as a feedstock for biojet fuels. In order to comply with the aviation industry’s standards, the fuel must be chemically identical to petroleum-based jet fuel. Test flights using Agrisoma’s carinata-based fuel are expected this spring. For the biojet fuel industry to advance in the province, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the economics, logistics and challenges for production of these dedicated industrial oilseed crops, along with the processing and commercial use of biojet fuel.
Plants with industrial punch Two crops have become the centre of attention in Saskatchewan: Camelina sativa (false flax) and Brassica carinata (Ethiopian mustard), commonly referred to as camelina and carinata, are ancient crops that grow on
Photo: Prakash Venglat
6 BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUS MARCH 2012
CANADIAN LIFE SCIENCE
Photo: Deb Puttick
