Regenrate: The Startup Transforming Fallow Fields Into Certified Low‑Carbon Jet Fuel
- Agrilinkage
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
A startup is turning the fallow period between harvests into a commercial opportunity for European farmers, while simultaneously giving the aviation industry a certified, locally grown alternative to fossil jet fuel. The model is already operating across several countries. Here is how it works, and why it matters.
A cost that should not have been a cost
Across much of Europe, farmers are now required or strongly encouraged to keep their fields covered during the fallow period between main crops. The intention is sound: bare soil erodes, loses organic matter, and contributes nothing to the farm's income. But until recently, covering that soil has itself come at a cost. Seeds, inputs, labour, and no financial return at the end of it.
Regenrate, a startup founded in 2022, was built on the premise that this should not be the case. The company identified a plant called camelina, a member of the Brassica family closely related to rapeseed, as the piece that could change the equation. Camelina grows well in the fallow window, requires minimal inputs compared to main crops, and produces seeds that are more than a third oil by weight when crushed. That oil, it turns out, is exactly what a growing segment of the aviation industry needs.
Luisa Netzband, who joined Regenrate in September 2025 in a Finance and Operations role, describes the model plainly.
"We help the farmer to grow camelina as a cover crop. We provide them the seeds for free and they plant it for us throughout this period. When it's harvested, we give them agronomic advice during cultivation and then off-take the harvest." Luisa Netzband, Finance and Operations, Regenrate
Free seed. Agronomic guidance during the growing season. A guaranteed buyer at the end. For a farmer who would otherwise have spent money and seen nothing back, that is a meaningful shift.
What the crop produces, and where it goes
When camelina seeds are crushed, two products come out. The first is oil. More than a third of the seed by weight is oil content, which makes it a high-yield feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel, known in the industry as SAF. The second product is meal, what remains after the oil is extracted. Camelina meal is high in protein and notably high in omega-3 fatty acids, which makes it a strong candidate for animal feed, and a European-grown alternative to imported soy.
The relevance of the soy comparison is not incidental. A significant portion of the soy currently used to feed European livestock is imported from South America, where its production has been linked to deforestation and land conversion. Camelina grown on fallow land displaces none of that. It uses land that would otherwise have sat unused or been covered at cost, and it provides a locally traceable source of high-protein feed.
On the aviation side, the timing is significant. European airlines are now subject to increasing mandates under the EU's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, requiring them to blend growing proportions of SAF into their fuel supply. The two feedstocks currently available at scale, used cooking oil and animal fats, are already under pressure and cannot cover projected demand. A certified, European-grown oilseed crop grown between harvests, on land that produces no food crop during that period, fits the gap the industry is trying to fill.
What certification actually means here
For the oil to be sold as SAF feedstock, it cannot simply be camelina oil. It has to be certified oil, and the certification process is where a significant part of Regenrate's operational work sits.
The company certifies its oil as a compliant feedstock under the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II and RED III). To qualify, the feedstock must demonstrate at least a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil jet fuel. Regenrate believes camelina, grown as a cover crop on fallow land with no associated land use change, can achieve reductions of 80 to 90 percent.
The verification of those numbers is not done on trust. Regenrate uses satellite data combined with field-level data collection to document what is happening on each contracted plot. Every conversation with a farmer, every photo taken in the field, every agronomic record, passes through an internal software platform that creates a traceable log from planting to delivery. Third-party auditors review this data as part of the certification process.
For a buyer of SAF feedstock, this matters practically, not abstractly. The regulatory framework requires proof. An oil producer who buys from Regenrate receives documented evidence of origin, land use status, and emission calculations, all attached to a certified supply.
The supply chain as it stands today
Regenrate does not simply match buyers with sellers. It builds the supply chain from the beginning, starting with the seed.
The company works with seed providers, seed multipliers, and breeders across Czech Republic, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, as well as a seed multiplier in New Zealand to extend the climatic range of varieties and diversify supply risk. Farmer operations are running across Belgium, Croatia, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. In the 2025 season, Regenrate contracted around 65 farms covering 1,200 hectares. The plan for 2026 is to scale to more than 300 contracted farms.
The off-takers are oil producers and biofuel producers in the aviation sector, alongside animal feed traders who purchase the meal. The stated ambition is to build a supply that is genuinely European in origin, reducing the aviation sector's dependence on feedstock sourced from other continents.
"We really create a local source of SAF feedstock and also animal feed. We kind of want to make the European aviation sector not reliant anymore on other geographic regions." Luisa Netzband, Finance and Operations, Regenrate
What the farmer actually receives
For a farmer considering whether to join, the offer has three parts. Free seeds, so there is no upfront cost. Agronomic support throughout the growing period, through farm visits and ongoing guidance, which matters because camelina is still a relatively unfamiliar crop for most European growers and that support reduces the risk of a poor harvest. And a guaranteed off-take, meaning there is a buyer committed to taking the harvest at a price agreed in the contract.
Beyond the direct payment, the agronomic case for cover cropping also holds. Camelina grown between seasons reduces soil erosion, builds organic matter, improves water retention, and can improve the performance of the following main crop. These benefits have been known for decades. What was missing was an economic reason to act on them. Regenrate is trying to provide that reason.
Netzband frames her own motivation in terms of the structural problem the model is trying to solve.
"Nowadays it's very hard for the farmer to survive and to have an economically viable business model for regenerative practices. So with cover cropping we create another revenue stream for the farmer and regenerate their soil." Luisa Netzband, Finance and Operations, Regenrate
Ownership and the question of who captures the value
One aspect of Regenrate's stated direction that is uncommon in the agri-commodity space is its intention to become a steward-owned company. Steward ownership is a legal and governance structure in which control of the company is held by those who work in it, and in which profit distribution is permanently oriented toward the people who generate the value, rather than toward external shareholders.
In Regenrate's case, the stated intention is to redistribute value toward farmers. Netzband puts it directly: the farmer does the most work in the supply chain, and the model should reflect that. Whether that goal is realised at scale remains to be seen, but it is the explicit orientation of a company that places itself firmly between the farmer and the industrial buyer, and that has chosen to define its success in terms of what reaches the farmer, not only what it extracts from the transaction.
For farmers considering participation
The practical entry point is straightforward. Regenrate supplies the seeds at no cost, provides agronomic advice through farm visits and its digital platform, and buys back the harvested camelina at a price agreed in the contract. There are no land conversion requirements, no change to the main crop rotation, and no capital outlay for the farmer. The cover crop fits into the fallow window.
The company is currently active across several European countries and is actively seeking additional farm partners as it moves toward its 2026 target of more than 300 contracted farms.
For buyers and institutional partners looking at the supply side
The certification structure is in place and operational. Oil sold by Regenrate is certified as a compliant SAF feedstock under EU RED II and RED III, meaning it meets current European regulatory requirements. The traceability runs from field to delivery, supported by satellite data and a documented digital record for each contracted plot.
The supply base is growing. From 1,200 hectares and 65 farms in 2025 to a planned target of more than 300 farms in 2026, the trajectory is one of deliberate, structured scale. The seed supply chain is diversified across five European countries plus New Zealand, reducing climatic concentration risk. And the two-product model, oil for aviation and meal for animal feed, means revenue is not entirely dependent on a single off-take relationship.
For an oil producer, biofuel refiner, or animal feed trader looking for a traceable, European-grown supply of camelina, Regenrate is currently one of the few structured operations building that supply at commercial scale on this continent.
Regenrate operates across Belgium, Croatia, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. To explore partnership or off-take opportunities, visit regenrate.com.
© AgriLinkage 2026. All rights reserved. Interview conducted at the Salon International de l'Agriculture, Paris, February 2026.
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