Last week I had the fantastic opportunity to visit VerdEnergia, an organic farm a few towns away. In 2009, we began to partner with them on a region wide Jatropha biofuel project. I went to learn what I could about Jatropha and the biofuel process since we have a ton of it around here and I knew nothing about it. They have a lovely group of people working tirelessly at reforestation in their community. I learned a lot over the course of the weekend, and I’d like to share some of what I learned here. We already have some of this information on our Jatropha page, too, so be sure to check it out!

Jatropha is a pretty incredible little plant. It produces a fruit that can be pressed for its oil, and used as fuel. We won’t be able to harvest for another few years, but while we wait the plants are working for us in the meantime. Here are some of the benefits we’re already reaping:

•  It is a nitrogen fixing plant, which means it is a plant that makes nitrogen available for other plants. Nitrogen is necessary for plants to grow; when it’s not there, plants can’t grow. Jatropha is also a deep rooting plant, which means it is able to draw nutrients from deeper soil layers, and it aids in preventing (or stopping) erosion. These two factors are absolutely essential in this region because the soil is so poor and erosion is so widespread.

• Part of the process of creating a truly organic, sustainable farm includes intermediate steps. You can’t jump to reforestation over night. Think about what a forest really looks like—the high canopy filters light down to medium height trees, which in turn filter light down to shrubs and small plants. Very little light and in reality, very little rain actually reach the forest floor. However, the floor remains perpetually moist. It takes a lot of time to get to this point when so many of your trees have been leveled. The sun ends up baking the ground, and plants are unable to grow on their own in the intense heat.  So, with reforestation as our end goal, we’re taking those small, caring steps that are necessary for rebuilding the forest and in the meantime, we can let the process work for us by mix cropping with Jatropha. Jatropha can and will grow big and tall and create that first layer of canopy, faster than most other trees will. Right now while it’s growing, and sun and rain still reach the ground, we plant yucca, lemon grass, sweet potatoes, and other food crops around and among the plants. As we water and fertilize these plants, by default we water and fertilize the Jatropha and vice versa. Everyone benefits!

• You can plant with seeds or by cuttings from another plant. This gives farmers options. Buy seeds or borrow cuttings from your neighbor!

• We’re planting mostly on hillsides, but we plant in swales on a contour. This alleviates erosion (along with those really deep roots).

• Jatropha is extremely hardy. Both of our farms have seen that it takes a lot to kill these plants, even at their smallest stages. If your crop seems to struggle in the beginning years, you can give it time and continue to care for it, or find new ways to care for it, but you won’t likely lose the plant. That’s a nice guarantee to have once you invest in the project.

When I first arrived, Josh, the head guy at Verde, mentioned something that gave me a better frame for the context in which to consider the project. He said they are not trying to replace petroleum with Jatropha biofuel. That would go against their main goal (reforestation), because you would need to level acre after acre of land to produce the amount of oil we demand in the world today. He said, “Jatropha is a step.” It just happens to produce a usable biofuel, that can support the uses of individual farms in this region, as well as all the uses listed above. By Josh’s calculations, if you plant a hectare of Jatropha, you will plant about 900 trees. If that hectare produces at a minimum rate, you will end up with about 400 gallons of biofuel a year, every year for the next 45 years.

If you do a quick Google search on Jatropha, you’ll find that oil companies have given up on Jatropha production for a number of reasons. It takes too much water, it produces too marginal of a crop, etc. etc. But these cases are in the commercial production of Jatropha, where tens of thousands of acres have been leveled to plant solely Jatropha. This is not the model we are following here, nor is it the model Verde is promoting.We are participating with over 35 farms in this region, who all have the same desire to bring life back to these hills.

The numbers were enough for me—more than enough oil to sustain this farm for 45 years from one planting of Jatropha is astounding. We’re continuing to care for our plants here, and may plant more in a few months. The soil needs a lot of help, so the process is slow going, but the day we get to harvest the fruit will be a pretty big day around here! I’m looking forward to it.

Baby Jatropha