14  / SEEDWORLD.COM  SEPTEMBER 2026
Sustainable aviation fuel is no 
longer a fringe idea. Airlines 
want it. States are building 
policy around it. Researchers 
are racing to lower costs. The 
next question is what it means 
for seed companies, breeders 
and the agricultural value chain 
that will ultimately supply it. 
By Aimee Nielson, Seed World U.S. Editor
SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL 
(SAF) is often framed as an energy 
transition story. In practice, it is becoming 
an agriculture story just as quickly.
The aviation sector is trying to replace 
petroleum-based jet fuel with alterna­
tives that meet the same performance 
standards without requiring new aircraft, 
engines or fueling infrastructure. That 
constraint immediately pulls agriculture 
into the conversation. SAF must be pro­
duced from hydrocarbons found in bio­
logical materials, including crop residues, 
forestry byproducts, waste streams and 
purpose-grown biomass.
Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels 
Initiative (CAAFI) executive director Steve 
Csonka, describes the scale of the shift.
“We’re talking about really a new 
industrial sector that we’re trying to bring 
online to produce more sustainable fuels 
for aviation,” he says.
Progress is real. SAF has moved 
beyond pilot projects and into com­
mercial delivery at multiple airports. But 
the conversation inside the industry still 
revolves around economics.
Price Still Determines How Fast 
SAF Scales
The aviation sector knows how to pro­
duce sustainable aviation fuel. The prob­
lem is making it affordable enough to 
compete with petroleum-derived jet fuel.
“The key issue is that they are still not 
very affordable,” Csonka says, noting the 
continued price advantage of conven­
tional jet fuel.
Production capacity exists and con­
tinues to grow, yet not all of it is being 
utilized. Market signals, policy structures 
and competing renewable fuel pathways 
influence whether producers target 
aviation fuel or shift production toward 
markets such as renewable diesel.
That reality reshapes how agriculture 
fits into the story. Feedstock availabil­
ity alone does not determine adoption. 
Feedstock cost, conversion efficiency, 
supply chain logistics and policy incen­
tives are all factors.
Feedstocks Move From Concept to 
Farm-Level Reality
The SAF conversation quickly narrows 
to the question agriculture understands 
best: what raw materials can be pro­
duced consistently, aggregated efficiently 
and converted economically.
Bioleum Corporation director of avia­
tion Elvis Ebikade says the pathway to 
fuel production is inseparable from the 
characteristics of the feedstock.
“Those technologies are primarily tied 
to the feedstocks,” he says.
Current commercial SAF pathways 
heavily rely on oil-based inputs such as 
used cooking oils and vegetable oils. 
Emerging technologies are pushing into 
lignocellulosic materials, including crop 
residues and woody biomass to expand 
supply and lowe costs. But abundance on 
paper does not guarantee practicality.
From Seed to Sky:  
Aviation’s Next Fuel Runs 
Through Seed

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