AGRICULTURE
A nursery worker handles cuttings that are being grafted to root stock in an effort to isolate the 30 or 40 best cultivars for commercial production.
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beans in Iowa that are used for ethanol
production.
After oil extraction, a pongamia orchard
could also produce three tons of seedcake
an acre for cattle and poultry uses.
The unrefined oil can also be used as a
biopesticide like neem oil.
Pongamia commercial cultivation
should rival pre-canker citrus production
costs of between $500 to $600 an acre,
McClure said. The tree is drought- and
salt-tolerant and doesn’t seem to mind
standing water. It could, therefore, prove
extremely valuable in areas subject to hurricane
activity or where saltwater intrusion
acts against other crops.
The tree blooms in May and June and
the seedpods containing the oil can be
mechanically harvested by “shaking” machinery
originally developed in California
for pistachio nuts. Mechanical harvesting
offers cost advantages over labor-intensive
citrus, McClure pointed out.
Processing pongamia is also much more
low-tech than for citrus. A simple press can
extract the oil. Since 2018, Hardee County
Economic Development Council has been
working with TerViva to develop a permanent
processing facility in Wachula. If
successful, about four or five similar plants
would cover most of the state’s needs,
McClure said.
McClure made an interesting comparison
between pongamia and citrus. Both
were able to “catch the wave” of economic
and social opportunity in their respective
eras, he said.
Citrus rode the wave of growing post-
World War II affluence in America. As more
homes acquired refrigerators and freezers,
coupled with the invention of frozen
orange juice concentrate, OJ became
an almost indispensable commodity in
American homes.
Pongamia could do the same for a
society clamoring for plant protein in the
21st century, particularly as Third World
populations explode.
“I’ve worked in citrus all my life,” McClure
said. “In fact, I was recently inducted into
the Citrus Hall of Fame. So, it’s personally
devastating to be part of the collapse of
citrus.
“But it’s wonderful to be involved with
a new crop that can be plugged in right
after citrus, and to make money again.”
McClure noted that TerViva is working
with the USDA and Nature Conservancy
ANTHONY WESTBURY
on best management protocols to
minimize pongamia’s invasive properties.
Despite being dubbed an invasive plant in
Miami-Dade when it was used for ornamental
purposes, McClure said the plant
has been grown next to the Everglades for
decades without taking over native plants.
Longtime St. Lucie County rancher
Mike Adams of Adams Ranch said he had
read about pongamia but mused “This is
Florida, sooner or later something is going
to start eating this stuff.”
Adams makes a valid point, McClure
said, but he noted that in 10 years of
proof-of-concept planting, the company
hasn’t had to spray to control pests. Moreover,
he said, deer, cattle, horses and pigs
won’t eat the plant because of those bitter
compounds.
McClure sees pongamia as a home-run
in supplying organic feed, most of which
currently is imported. Pongamia offers the
promise of a U.S.-grown, verifiably organic
protein product.
Can you say “Impossible Burgers”?
TerViva is scaling up pongamia cultivation.
Commercial grower Evans Properties
planted a five-acre orchard about five
years ago in western St. Lucie County that >>
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