Covering agricultural soils in summer to protect them can also become a source of production and value through new outlets. Harvestable cover crops thus open up opportunities to produce sustainable raw materials without competing with existing crop rotations.
In 2025, four farmers in the Gers, Haute-Garonne and Vendée regions experimented with growing sunflower as a harvestable cover crop as part of the JETSUN programme. The objective: to produce a raw material for the manufacture of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which are essential to the progressive decarbonization of air transport.
Under demanding climatic conditions – a hot, dry summer and short planting windows – this web series follows the various stages of these trials: establishment, crop management, crop monitoring and harvest results.
Through these field-based experiences, the series highlights the key agronomic lessons learned and the technical levers that can help support the development of sunflower as a harvestable cover crop.
Find out even more about Jetsun or cover crops!
