Expanding the availability of soybean oil for renewable diesel with a high oil–low protein cultivar

Abstract

AbstractIt is imperative that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decrease rapidly to limit global warming and prevent catastrophic climate change. Renewable diesel fuel, made from vegetable oil, is playing an increasingly important role in reducing emissions in the transportation sector that is hard to electrify (long‐haul trucking, shipping, and aviation). Increasing the use of renewable diesel made from soybean oil will increase the competition for crop land between food and fuel. This conflict could be reduced by the development of a high‐yielding soybean cultivar producing seeds containing very high oil and very low protein concentrations. The well‐known inverse relationships between oil and protein concentrations and protein concentration and yield suggest that development of such a cultivar is possible. A high oil–low protein, high yielding cultivar dedicated to oil production would produce substantially more oil per unit area and reduce the food/fuel conflict.