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The environmental consequences of using nonrenewable fossil fuels have motivated a global quest for sustainable alternatives from renewable sources. Carinata has been developed as a low carbon intensity, non‐food oilseed biomolecular platform to produce advanced drop‐in renewable fuels, meal, and co‐products. The crop is widely adaptable to grow in the humid subtropical and humid continental climatic regions of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Australia as a spring or winter crop. Carinata is heat tolerant, resistant to diseases and seed shattering with lower water‐use requirements than other oilseed brassicas. Adopting carinata in double‐cropping systems would require continuing research to integrate crop biology with agronomy, to understand growth and development and its interaction with agricultural inputs and management. Site‐specific best management agronomic practices and crop improvement research to develop frost‐tolerant, early‐maturing, nutrient use‐efficient, and high yielding varieties with desirable oil content and fatty acid profile will enhance the crop's adaptability and economic viability. The exploitation of intra‐ and interspecific and intra‐ and intergeneric diversity will further enhance carinata productivity and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. This review attempts to present a comprehensive description of carinata's biology, beginning with its origin and current state of distribution, availability of genetic and genomic resources, and a discussion of its morphology, phenology, and reproduction. A detailed analysis of the agronomy of the crop, including planting and germination and management practices, is presented in the context of crop growth and development. This will facilitate global adoption, sustainable production, and commercialization of carinata as a dedicated biofuel oilseed crop in diverse cropping systems and growing regions of the world, including the Southeast United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Performance of 11 Brassica carinata genotypes was evaluated for agronomically important traits. • Seasonal variation in environmental conditions, such as precipitation and temperature influenced agronomic performance. • Significant correlations were observed between seed and oil yield; bolting and flowering; bolting and maturity. • Principal component analysis clustered genotypes with high oil content, erucic acid content and protein content together. Brassica carinata A. Braun, grown as a winter crop on underutilized agricultural land in the southeast United States (SE US), may provide a new rotation alternative and augment income for producers. Widespread adoption of Brassica carinata as a winter crop in the SE US requires varieties with cold tolerance, acceptable and stable seed yield, oil content, protein content so that the crop will be complementary with the normal cultivation of summer crops such as cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), corn (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max L. Merr), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.). The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of 11 Brassica carinata genotypes for agronomically important traits including seed yield, oil and protein content, oil quality, days to bolting, flowering and maturity at three locations during two growing seasons (2015–2017) as a winter crop in the SE US. Interactions between genotype and environment played a crucial role in overall agronomic performance. This study provides key information on the effect of environmental conditions, such as precipitation and temperature on the agronomic performance of carinata along with generation of information related to region-specific requirements for the crop in the SE US. Days to maturity ranged from 154 to 165 days. The average yield of the 11 genotypes tested ranged from 2814 kg/ha to 3401 kg/ha, which were improved from earlier studies, demonstrating gain due to regional selection and breeding efforts. Total oil content ranged from 42.0 % to 52.4 %, while the erucic acid (C22:1) content ranged from 40.7 % to 42.9 % on a whole seed basis. Based on these results, specific genotypes with consistently high seed yield, oil, erucic acid and protein content with shorter life cycle irrespective of location or year were identified. Brassica carinata has potential as a viable bioenergy winter crop to be integrated into the cropping systems in the SE US and other regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]