Pennycress Resource Network

Development of diverse and renewable feed stocks for the production of fuel and industrial products will become a most certain priority for the U.S. agriculture sector. However, displacement of crops that produce the world's food from tillable land is a concern. One approach to solve both needs for food and fuel is to rotate both types of crops through the same land in one extended growing season. Researchers in Illinois at Western Illinois University and the USDA-National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, have identified the potential new crop, field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), that can grow slowly over the winter and spring months with harvest in late May to early June. With pennycress's early harvest date, a full season soybean can be grown on the same acreage immediately following harvest.

To learn more about this fascinating crop and the progress being made towards its commercialization, please explore this website. Any comments or suggestions can be emailed to PRN@wiu.edu.

The Pennycress Resource Network is a website dedicated to disseminating information regarding the development, advancement, and commercialization of field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) as a viable industrial crop in the US.

Funding for this website is provided in part by Western Illinois University and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grant # (2010-85117-20535) of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.