Yesterday we held our annual Oilseed Producer’s Meeting. At this meeting, I presented an economic overview of oilseeds in Vermont. Ina nutshell, Vermont has an installed on-farm biodiesel capacity of 600,000 gal/yr (5 sites) with a normalized initial cost of $1/gal of capacity (better than national average). Fuel can be produced for an average cost of $2.13/gal, and meal can be produced at an average cost of $340/ton. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with this model are 60-100% better than US avg oilseed production (net sink) while the average energy return on energy invested (EROEI) is 4 to 1 (i.e. 4 gallons produced for every gallon used in production. The model is on-farm production for on-farm use; i.e. cost avoidance.
This study made use of the Vermont Oilseed Cost and Profit Calculator, a tool we have developed over the years to collect all the enterprise costs associated with an on-farm oilseed operation that may turn the crop into meal, oil, and/or biodiesel. It helps growers and others interested in the topic arrive at specific product costs and compare those costs to market prices. We also have summarized three different likely oilseed enterprise scenarios in e report titled Vermont On-Farm Oilseed Enterprises: Production Capacity and Breakeven Economics. This work has had strong support from the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and has been accomplished in close cooperation with the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Program.