South Dakota Farmers Grow Profits and Soil Health with Winter Camelina

New program from Cargill helps farmers diversify rotations and boost revenue with a cover crop that can be harvested for biofuel.

Published on Feb. 28, 2026

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Camelina is an oilseed crop that can be planted in the fall and harvested the following summer, offering South Dakota farmers an opportunity to grow a cash crop while also improving soil health. A new program from Cargill provides a market for the camelina and helps manage risk for farmers trying the crop for the first time.

Why it matters

Growing cover crops can improve soil health, but they don't always provide a direct financial return. Camelina allows farmers to turn their cover crop into a cash crop, diversifying their rotation and boosting revenue while still getting the soil benefits of a cover crop. This is especially important in South Dakota, where finding a market for camelina has been a challenge.

The details

Camelina can be relay cropped with soybeans, allowing farmers to get two cash crops off the same land in one year. While soybean yields may decrease slightly, the added revenue from camelina often makes up the difference. Cargill's program offers on-farm pickup, pricing tied to soybean futures, and a minimum revenue guarantee to help manage risk for first-time growers. Research has also shown camelina provides benefits like reduced soil erosion, improved soil structure, and weed suppression.

  • Camelina is planted in mid-September and harvested in early July.
  • Soybeans can be planted into the growing camelina in the spring, allowing two cash crops from the same field in one year.

The players

Cargill

An American agribusiness company that has launched a program to provide a market and risk management tools for farmers growing winter camelina in South Dakota.

Anna Teeter

Cargill Novel Oilseeds Program Manager, who oversees the company's winter camelina program.

Carrie Eberle

USDA-ARS Research Agronomist who has studied the soil health benefits of growing winter camelina.

David Kruger

A South Dakota farmer who grew camelina for the first time last year and is making adjustments to his planting and harvesting approach for this year's crop.

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What they’re saying

“Our contract offering includes a number of different things for growers to make decisions on, starting with delivery or pickup on-farm. We are also pricing the contract off of soybean futures with an additional premium. And this allows growers to actually price when the market moves rather than a flat rate price, which a lot of growers have been quite happy with.”

— Anna Teeter, Cargill Novel Oilseeds Program Manager (no-tillfarmer.com)

“What we have found with winter camelina in our studies is that it really offers the same benefits that a cover crop does. Winter camelina is going to be planted in mid-September and is going to be harvested in early July. And from that mid-September till around the end of April, its job is basically to be a cover crop.”

— Carrie Eberle, USDA-ARS Research Agronomist (no-tillfarmer.com)

“So last year, I planted 80 acres of it, and it was so dry when we planted it that it never started. It was laying in dry dirt. Then some of it came up in the spring, some of it didn't. It was a really thin stand. It was like maybe a third of a stand. So, we took out pretty much all of it.”

— David Kruger, South Dakota Farmer (no-tillfarmer.com)

What’s next

This year, Kruger plans to modify his planting approach by skipping a row every 30 inches to allow for better soybean planting, and he aims to harvest the camelina 20 days earlier to avoid damaging the soybeans.

The takeaway

Winter camelina offers South Dakota farmers a unique opportunity to grow a cash crop that also provides soil health benefits, but there is a learning curve involved. Programs like Cargill's that provide a market and risk management tools can help make camelina a viable option for diversifying rotations and boosting farm profitability.