Following an announcement yesterday on investing in winter canola as a biomass-based feedstock, Bayer today announced a deal with Canada-based Smart Earth Camelina Corp. to acquire camelina germplasm, intellectual property, and materials to expand its global leadership position in biomass-based feedstock markets.

This acquisition underlines Bayer’s goal to help decarbonize the transportation sector and to deliver regenerative agriculture solutions through the investment and development of intermediate oilseed crops to meet the demand of the growing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) markets which is estimated to increase from 14 billion to 40 billion gallons by 2040. Camelina is a novel intermediate oilseed crop with a promising low-carbon intensity for renewable fuel and can be grown in both spring and winter. Bayer intends to use its expertise in oilseeds to further develop this product.

Bayer intends to make additional progress this year in establishing new renewable fuel value chains to deliver fuel with lower carbon intensity than traditional fuel sources that offer farmers profitable alternative oilseed options. The introduction of camelina will complement Bayer’s existing work with CoverCress, and the recent announcement on scaling winter canola with the goal to launch hybrid TruFlex winter canola in the US in 2027.