This presentation was shared at the WIU/Allison farm field day in 2010

1. On Farm Bio-
Fuel Cropping
Systems
Luke Holst
Holst Farms
Augusta, IL

2. Holst Farms
In 2010
1300 acres corn
Augusta
1200 acres soybeans
* 160 wheat/sunflower
100 acres alfalfa.
100 and 150 brood cows
lots of hogs
300 pounds of tomatoes/week
(peak production)

3. Bio-Diesel Production on Holst Farms
• Holst Farms has been producing bio-fuel
on-farm for four years.
• Hybrid sunflowers are grown and processed
on the farm.
• A blend of vegetable oil, gasoline and
conventional diesel fuel is used in farm
equipment

4. Cropping Systems
• Wheat-Sunflower double crop
– winter wheat is planted in the fall and followed by
a sunflower crop
– Sunflowers are planted in late June to early July
– Sunflowers are harvested in late November
• Canola-Sunflower double crop
– A new crop rotation is being researched

5. Winter Wheat Field in Early Spring
A proven
double-crop
system in
W. Illinois
Sunflower Field in early September
Much more
reliable than
double crop
soybeans

6. Wheat-Sunflower System
– Sunflowers
• Conventional plan uses 90 lbs of N and 50 lbs of DAP
per acre.
• On Holst Farms incorporated swine manure is usually
used instead of fertilizer.
• “Spartan” broadleaf herbicide and “Select” grass
herbicide is applied before planting
– Wheat
• Fall applied Urea, DAP, Potash
• Spring applied Fungicide and Nitrogen

7. Sunflower Yields
• Over the last three growing seasons Holst
Farms has averaged 40 bu per acre for
sunflowers - some fields have averaged over
50 bu per acre
• Oil yield has been between 1.5 and 1.75
gallons per bushel.

8. The future???
Canola-Sunflower Double Crop System
• In fall 2009, Holst Farms and the IIRA: VASDC
planted a canola trial
IIRA:VASDC =
Illinois Institute for
Rural Affairs: Value-
Added Sustainable
Development Center,
http://www.value-
added.org/

9. 2009/10 Canola plot: 3 varieties
“Flash” , “Wichita” and “Dekalb”

10. Canola Plot Results
Flash Witchita Dekalb
Rep Length Width Rep Length Width Length Width Weight
1 436 15 1 436 15 1000 30 Tare 4320
Total
2 427 15 2 427 15 Feet 30000 Gross 5240
0.68870
3 427 15 3 427 15 Acres 5 Net 920
17.6923
4 330 15 4 230 15 Bushels 1
25.6892
Totals 1620 60 Totals 1520 60 Bu/Acre 3
Total Total
Feet 97200 Weight Feet 91200 Weight
Acres 0.448148 Tare 1880 Acres 0.477632 Tare 3620
Bushels 26.15385 Gross 3240 Bushels 13.46154 Gross 4320
Bu/Acre 58.35982 Net 1360 Bu/Acre 28.18394 Net 700
Totals
Acres 1.614485
Bushels 57.30769
Weight 2980
Bu/Acre 35.49596

11. Canola-Sunflower Double Crop
• For the 2010-2011 growing season Holst
Farms and IIRA VSDC have planned to test a
winter Canola crop followed by a sunflower
crop. If successful this should greatly increase
oil yield per acre.
• > 200 gallons per acre??
• < 3% of crop land dedicated to fuel production

12. On-farm Oil Processing

13. Two 6-ton presses

14. Oil is allowed to settle for several weeks

15. Oil Cleaning
Sock Filter: 1st part of cleaning Centrifuge: 2nd part of cleaning
process process, oil must be heated during this
process

16. Oil-Gas Mixture: The Finished Product

17. Blending
• 1 part gasoline : 6 parts sunflower oil is the
Holst’s standard blend
• Gasoline is added to achieve the same specific
gravity as diesel fuel
• The amount of gasoline is small enough that no
adverse effects have been noticed on engines.
• The oil-gasoline blend is mixed with diesel
(approximately 50/50 mix) before use in farm
equipment.

18. Sunflower press
cake retains ~ 20%
of the oil.
Press cake is fed
to cattle

19. Sunflower oil
sludge is one of the
materials burned
to heat the Holst’s
greenhouses

20. Questions?