‘Wonderfuel’ crop harvested in Mapleton

How times - and fuel demands - change.

The first commercial harvest of a plant once called “stinkweed” took place in a Mapleton field Friday, with supporters now referring to it as “wonderfuel.”

The weed in question is pennycress, a member of the mustard family with seeds that contain 36 percent oil - twice as much as soybeans. That much oil makes pennycress the perfect crop to blend with diesel fuel to make biodiesel, said officials of Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC, a firm that plans to build a plant on the Mapleton site that is expected to produce 60 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

“No other sustainable energy crop has the potential that pennycress has,” said Sudhir Seth, president and CEO of BMI.

“This is a crop that does not obstruct the food chain. It has an estimated value of $125 to $175 per acre for farmers and we’re able to convert 80 percent of the plant to energy. In the long term, we anticipate pennycress will become a top biofuel source for biodiesel production,” said Seth.

Large tubs filled with 1,000 pounds of pennycress seed that were on display Friday will largely be used to plant thousands of acres across central Illinois, he said.

BMI could break ground soon, said Seth. “We could break ground as soon as August” on the plant if Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation supporting loan guarantees from the state, said Seth, adding he anticipates a ground-breaking by this fall at the latest. Seth estimated the plant, which is expected to employ 25 people to start, would take 12 to 15 months to build.

The added benefit to pennycress is that it could be grown on the same ground farmers use for soybeans, said Brad Glenn, a board member of the Ag Guild of Illinois, a group representing 50 central Illinois farmers with 130,000 tillable acres that has entered into an agreement with BMI.

Pennycress is planted in the fall and harvested in the spring using traditional farm equipment, he said. “Farmers can harvest pennycress in late May and then plant soybeans behind it. It allows farmers to insert another crop into the growing season,” said Glenn.

Manning the combine that completed the final harvest of the pennycress crop Friday was Terry Isbell, research head of the National Center for Agricultural Research’s new crops division. Peter Johnsen, BMI’s chief technology officer and former director of the Peoria ag lab, credited Isbell with initiating research on pennycress as an energy crop.

Johnsen said widespread planting of pennycress “could bring as much as $100 million in new economic opportunities for our region.” Supporting those opportunities were area legislators, Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, and Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria.

“This is the future - right here in Illinois,” said Koehler.

“Pennycress is part of the answer as we try to wean ourselves from oil,” said Leitch.

Steve Tarter can be reached at 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com.