Field pennycress, today a weed that grows well in cool weather climates, may hold one of the keys to addressing the problem of too much carbon in the atmosphere. Pennycress, added to the rotation with soybeans boosts the total vegetable oil produced on each field each year, plus more protein too. 

CoverCress Inc., a startup located at BRDG Park and on N. Warson Road, both in the 39 North Innovation District of St. Louis, has been working since 2013 to domesticate pennycress and provide farmers with a cash cover crop that can be planted between normal full-season corn and soybeans. 

CoverCress has developed an improved version of pennycress, which they have branded as CoverCress™.  With oil and meal quality similar to canola, CoverCress™ fits feed and renewable fuel markets, giving farmers an additional source of revenue. As it’s a crop that is planted in the winter on otherwise fallow ground utilizing existing farmer equipment, it also can play a role in low carbon intensity markets. 

Planting CoverCress™ between rotations improves soil health by protecting the soil from erosion and also helps keep our water cleaner by holding and using residual plant nutrients applied to the previous crop. That helps to keep nitrogen from making its way to streams and rivers and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico where excess nitrogen causes major algal growth and a dead zone visible even from space. 

Not only does it protect nutrients in the soil, it sequesters carbon into soil at an estimated ton of carbon per acre via its root biomass. In addition to the typical cover crop benefits of this carbon sequestration, CoverCress has teamed with the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative to improve the quantity and quality of the carbon sequestration of CoverCress™.  

The oil from CoverCress™ is an excellent feedstock to be used in renewable diesel and jet fuel as it has a very low carbon intensity (CI) score (meaning it uses low levels of carbon to be produced). A fuel producer needs low CI feedstock to make a low CI renewable diesel. The low carbon standard fuels are part of the approach states like California are using to reduce net carbon emissions from fuel. While feedstocks like used cooking oil and distillers corn oil are great low carbon intensity feedstocks for renewable diesel today, there simply is not enough of those products to supply growing demand for low CI fuels. CoverCress™ can be scaled to meet this growing demand. 

CoverCress is led by Jerry Steiner, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and has been working in the agriculture and agtech industries his whole life. In 2013, even prior to Jerry joining, the company (then named Arvegenix) planted 200 five foot long rows of native pennycress. Since then it has grown rapidly by partnering with Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, including teaming up with several Danforth Center scientists to develop new traits using funding from the Well Fargo Foundation Innovation Incubator (IN²), accessing the Center’s greenhouses, as well as skilled talent and other critical infrastructure in the 39 North ecosystem. 

This year CoverCress raised $5M from their investors to continue its breeding and genome editing efforts and to begin building a value chain from farmer fields to grain handling and ultimately to deliver to end use markets. The company also added a COO, Mike DeCamp, who is focused on developing its supply chain from farmer recruitment to grain collection. 

This fall CoverCress planted over 100 acres of research plots testing different genetics and agronomic practice and, importantly, its first foundation seed production. The company is also excited to be planting their first commercial crop on a few thousand acres next fall with plans for a true commercial launch of more than 50,000 acres in 2022.

CoverCress’ business model is a closed loop model similar to crops like peas and sweet corn. CoverCress plans to provide seed to farmers to minimize upfront costs and instead get paid as grain is delivered. The farmer grows and harvests the crop and delivers it to a contracted grain handling location. While the long term uses for the grain will almost certainly take advantage of the low CI profile, it is also being investigated as a high energy feed ingredient. 

The rapidly growing company is collaborating with four universities within a USDA-NIFA CAP project called IPREFER (Integrated Pennycress Research Enabling Farm and Energy Resilience) that has received $10M in funding to develop the crop commercially and also deliver important environmental and societal benefits.  One of these is to investigate the benefit it brings to pollinators, as pennycress flowers very early in the growing season, providing early nectar to attract and sustain pollinators. The company, together with its university partners in IPREFER, is also part of a $13M DOE funded nationwide project to improve the root system of pennycress.

Coming to a farm nearby soon, a new crop that was once a weed.