Management: Standard  New Crop  Staple Crop: Oil

Requires a lime-free soil and a sheltered position[182]. Requires a well-drained moist fertile soil[188]. Best grown in semi-shade[200], the plant prefers woodland conditions[166]. A very ornamental plant[1, 117], when dormant it is hardy to -10°c[184] in a sheltered woodland environment, but succeeds outdoors only in the milder areas of Britain, growing well in Devon and Cornwall[11, 59]. The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun[K]. Plants flower and set viable seed every year at Coleton Fishacre in S. Devon[104]. In general, however, flowering is unreliable in cool temperate zones[200]. The leaves are very variable in shape, ranging from pinnate to bipinnate, the leaflets varying in number from 3 to 30. There is probably some form of symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil that the plants are dependant upon. Plants are very intolerant of root disturbance[117].

Carbon Farming

• Management: Standard  Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.
• New Crop  Most new crops were important wild plants until recently, although some are the result of hybridization. They have been developed in the last few, decades. What they have in common is that they are currently cultivated by farmers. Examples include baobab, argan, and buffalo gourd.
• Staple Crop: Oil  (0-15 percent protein, 16+ percent oil). Some of these are consumed whole while others are exclusively pressed for oil. Annuals include canola, poppyseed, maize, cottonseed, sunflower, peanut. Perennials include high-oil fruits, seeds, and nuts, such as olive, coconut, avocado, oil palm, shea, pecan, and macadamia. Some perennial oil crops are consumed whole as fruits and nuts, while others are exclusively pressed for oil (and some are used fresh and for oil).