Friday, August 15, 2008 - CENTRAL POINT, Oregon

In calloused hands, rancher Mark Wiest held up a bunch of what some folks would call weeds.

Not Wiest. He sees a growing opportunity.

"At some point, we will use up all our fossil fuel, but this will still be here," he said. "This is renewable."

Behind him were 26 acres in Sams Valley planted in camelina sativa, which produces an oil seed touted as the latest affordable source for biodiesel.

"There was not one drop of fertilizer used on this crop," he said. "No irrigation applied. No herbicide treatment."

The plants represent the first camelina crop in southwestern Oregon. The test site is a partnership with Willamette Biomass Processors Inc. of Rickreall, a small town west of Salem.

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Supplied by the Climate Change Central's Climate Change and Energy Technologies News Digests.