A small truck stop in rural Henry County that began selling canola-based biodiesel fuel last weekend will show the nation how to achieve greater energy independence, according to its owner. "We grow it, we make it and we sell it right here," said Dean Price, a North Carolina businessman, co-owner of Red Birch Energy and owner of the Red Birch Truck Stop along U.S. 220.
Red Birch is now buying canola, a high-oil crop, from farmers in Virginia and North Carolina, unloading it into tanks at the truck stop and converting it into biofuel on the spot. The one-stop operation is capable of storing 24,000 bushels of canola and producing more than 10,000 gallons of biodiesel daily.
Red Birch's owners hope eventually to have a chain of biodiesel truck stops.
Price said the use of canola can be a boon to farmers, giving them a winter crop to sell. Canola - technically not a plant itself, but the oil developed from rapeseed plants - is generally planted from late September to mid-October and harvested in the spring, thereby not competing with summer crops such as soybeans.
"Anything new is a risk, but this could work out well for us - it's an opportunity," said Port Republic farmer Glenn Rodes, who harvested about 58 bushels of canola per acre this spring on 75 acres of his Shenandoah Valley farm. Rodes' Riverhill Farms is one of Red Birch's suppliers. Rodes said he linked up with Price online at an energy-related Web site and soon the two had a handshake deal on canola.
Red Birch has contracts with North Carolina and Virginia farmers to buy canola for $9 a bushel. Canola is grown on about 1,500 acres in Virginia, said Dave Starner, superintendent of Virginia Tech's North Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Orange County. Starner said production of canola in Virginia has been limited due to the lack of manufacturing plants capable of turning canola into oil.
Price said he became interested in biofuels after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 and caused him to worry that his two truck stops would run out of fuel to sell. Alarmed at how dependent the country is on foreign oil, he said, he and his business partner began looking into renewable energy sources and hit on canola because it contains up to 44 percent oil, compared to soybeans which are no more than 20 percent oil.
Canola was initially developed to grow in the cold climate of Canada, but agricultural breakthroughs have created a plant suitable for the climate of Virginia and North Carolina.
Price said his Red Birch Truck Stop is the first in the nation to develop a turnkey biofuel operation where canola is turned into fuel and pumped directly into tanks to sell to truckers.
The truck stop currently sells a fuel composed of 20 percent canola biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel but may eventually offer a variety of blends, Price said.
Truckers have already told him they support the use of biodiesel, which sells for the same price as standard highway diesel, Price said, now around $4.30 in Virginia. "A lot of truckers are farmers and a lot of farmers are truckers, and they'll patronize each other."
After the oil is squeezed out at the Red Birch plant, the remaining seed is sold back to farmers to feed livestock and chickens, Price said.
He added that each county should have a biodiesel manufacturing plant to help the country wean itself off foreign oil, and he is hopeful the General Assembly will follow the lead of other states and offer farmers tax incentives to grow canola. The presence of manufacturing plants and tax incentives, in turn, could create a booming canola industry in Virginia, Price said.
Rodes said he is glad to be able to produce a crop that not only brings in money but furthers the cause of renewable energy. "I think this country needs to do something to lessen its energy dependency."
