Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Oil Nuts

So... if I buy organic sunflower seeds I am paying about $2.50 per pound for confectionery seeds. That's all I've used so far. Searching on-line shows that buying OilSeeds (the black ones that don't need shelling to make oil) cost about $13 per hundred weight (114 lbs).. I need to work out how to tap into the cheap end of the supply chain. The other issue is finding local seeds... I can make a 'locally pressed' oil from seeds I bring in but it still not a truly local product.

I can buy the seed from China... it probably has less CO2 impact to ship from china than to truck from ND (that's conventional wisdom these days). I couldn't find a price on the Chinese seeds but I did find that they all have like 20 ton minimum orders... I wander how long it would take to put 20 tons through my little press :-)

Chicken and egg... I need enough oil capacity to be able to respond if I sell oil... I don't want to make a bunch of oil if I can't sell it.

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