Using crude soybean oil as the sole carbon source, the lincomycin production from Streptomyces lincolnensis LC 345 was investigated in the air lift bioreactor. When 30 g/L of crude soybean oil was used, the maximum lincomycin concentration reached 0.89 g/L, after 5 days of culture. When CSL concentration was increased from 10 to 30 g/L, Lincomycin concentration was increased from 0.6 to 1.2. On the other hand, when CSL concentration was increased from 40 to 60 g/L, it was decreased from 1.15 to 0.7 g/L. Using these results, fed batch cultures for comparing the use of crude soybean oil and glucose as a conventional carbon source were carried out in a 5 L air lift bioreactor. When crude soybean oil was used as the sole carbon source, the maximum lincomycin concentration was 2.0 g/L, which was about 2.0 fold higher than that of glucose medium after 7 day of culture. The product yield from olive oil was 0.042 g/g consumed carbon source, which was about 3.8 fold higher than that of glucose.