CCI has converted field pennycress through advanced breeding and gene editing tools to create its climate-smart agricultural product marketed under the trade name of CoverCress®. This renewable oilseed and animal feed crop has a winter annual growth cycle, allowing it to fit into an existing corn and soybean rotation. It is planted in the fall, vernalizes over the winter, flowers, sets seed in the spring, and is harvested just ahead of spring crop planting.

The CoverCress crop sequesters carbon and prevents further organic soil carbon loss through cover-cropping. Additionally, it delivers the ecosystem benefits of a traditional cover crop by mitigating soil erosion, improving soil health, and reducing water and nutrient movement.

 

CoverCress: Stages of Growth

company timeline company timeline company timeline Planting
Piggyback trip into lightly disturbed soil / residue cover
Rosette
Large rosette established mid-winter
Budding
Buds form mid-spring at the tip of the plant
Pod Set
Pod set completed
Seedling
Cotyledons emerge less than a week after emergence
Bolting
Bolting begins in early spring and temperatures warm and day length increases
Flowering
Each plant produces multiple flower sub-stems in late spring
Maturity
The crop turns a golden color and begins to dry down at maturity

Our Science

This transformation from field pennycress into a novel rotational cash oilseed crop, occurred over 9+ years of breeding, selection, gene editing, and field trials. The result is an entirely new to market rotational cash crop with improved crop stand, yield, oil content, and quality, among many other beneficial attributes.

Containing 30% oil and a protein composition like canola, CoverCress grain has a unique feature that sets it apart: an ultra-low carbon intensity score. CoverCress oil is a crucial feedstock source for increasing the production of renewable fuels like renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

  • Oil
    • 30-33% oil composition
    • Zero long chain, unhealthy erucic acid
  • Meal
    • 40% crude protein
    • An amino acid composition like canola meal

More about Our Crop: