(e! Science News)  …Scientists at the University of Minnesota led by Gregg Johnson investigated differences in woody and herbaceous crop productivity and biomass yield as a function of landscape position at the field scale. Results …

(REPREVE Renewables) SunBelt Biofuels, LLC, a leader in bioenergy crops, and Unifi, Inc. (NYSE: UFI), makers of the REPREVE® family of recycled fibers, have announced the formation of a joint venture between certain of their affiliates …

(The Clean)  With Uncertainty Mounting About Climate/Energy Bill, Major New Study for CSI Details Path for Breaking Away From “Business As Usual” in the Electric Power Sector.
What happens if Congress fails to pass a climate or …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  At the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in Washington, Chromatin CEO Daphne Preuss announced that the company is expanding its technology development portfolio to produce fit-for-purpose sorghum as a biofuels feedstock, …

by  Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Ph.D. (Director, Office of the USDA Chief Scientist)  The USDA has a diverse protfolio of programs supporting the production of advanced biofuels.  In this presentation to the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in …

Zia Haq (Biomass Program, U.S. Department of Energy) focused his presentation on efforts that the Biomass R&D Board Interagency Working Group makes in order to increase the feedstock production. The priorities he pointed out in …

Jenny Hewson (Conservation International/CI) presented the multi- tiered sustainable biofuels crops projects funded by DOE.
CI is building global and regional scale maps for potential biofuel cultivation. In other words, CI is looking for areas …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  An Iowa inventor and entrepreneur is promoting a harvester he developed that can produce ethanol from sweet sorghum right in the field.
Lee McClune of Knoxville, Iowa invented the SORGANOL® Process (PatPend) …

by B. C. Venuto and J. A. Daniel (Crop Science)  Development of a biofuel industry based on biomass will require large quantities of cellulosic feedstock. Among the proposals for acquiring this feedstock, without impacting other …

President Obama announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a proposed rule for the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that intends to spur the expansion of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and …

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced  it has been selected for negotiation of a $25 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass …

by Lisa Gibson (Biomass Magazine)  A project in Pennsylvania seeks to determine if abandoned and active mine lands can be reclaimed and used to grow biofuel crops such as switchgrass and other warm-season grass species.  …

AG CONNECT Expo provides a world-class international forum for agriculture industry professionals to share global agricultural ideas and management trends. AG CONNECT Expo features exhibits of the latest industry innovations, products and technology as well …

 The Penn State energy-crops field display, created by Penn State Farm Services, is now open to visitors on land across from the old armory building on Fox Hollow Road, University Park, Pa., showing a variety …

“(W)e do intend for Transportation Biofuels in the United States to act as a tool to provide an overview of the current status of major developments in the biofuels industry. We highlight recent changes in …

By Todd Neeley (The Progressive Farmer) Cattleman Bill Couser hit on the crux of the matter when it comes to the future of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol, during a U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee field …

(Journal of Industrial Ecology)  Corn-ethanol production is expanding rapidly with the adoption of improved technologies to increase energy efficiency and profitability in crop production, ethanol conversion, and coproduct use. Life cycle assessment can evaluate the …

by Jessica Leber (New York Times and ClimateWire)  U.S. policies are subsidizing new energy crops that are likely to spread off the farm and wreak economic and ecological havoc, a federal advisory board cautioned yesterday.  …

(Richmond Times-Dispatch)   Osage Bio Energy, the company building an ethanol plant in Hopewell, is partnering with Perdue AgriBusiness to source local barley for the ethanol production.  Perdue will work with farmers in the region to …

by Sue Roesler (The Priairie Star)  Just ask Chuck Flynn, research chemist at Montana State University’s Eastern Ag Research Center, how many oilseed crops can actually be turned into biodiesel.  He has tried every oilseed …

….  There is plenty of corn to eat and plenty for making ethanol and plenty for feeding cattle and plenty more to export and still more to make chemicals and fabric. After peaking briefly in …

For biofuels and biopower to be competitive and sustainable, high-yielding energy crops will be required in most areas. That is because harvesting and transporting biomass to the biorefinery or power facility are collectively the most …

CSIRO and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers, have been awarded a A$1.6 million grant to increase the understanding of genes responsible for growth and yield in grasses for use as bio-energy and food crops.  The …

The Wyoming Business Council Agribusiness Division has received a $49,873 grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program to explore the feasibility of sustainable biofuel crop production in Wyoming.  The three-year SARE …

Chromatin Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide research and commercial license agreement with Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. for Chromatin’s proprietary gene stacking technology in sugar cane.
Chromatin has developed a novel approach …

EdeniQ, a California-based technology company serving the global biofuels industry, announced that it has begun a multi-year, field-to-fuel trial to evaluate low-carbon, non-food energy crops, like switchgrass, in California’s Central Valley. The company’s pilot-scale field …

by Richard Hamilton (Ceres)  This presentation was part of “Growing Energy” at Biomass 2009 in March.  The President and CEO of Ceres, Hamilton promoted breeding hardier plants, resulting in more efficient harvesting of their stems, …

From the open plenary session of the Biomass 2008 Conference.   Download PDF.

 
by Jonathan Gressel  (Plant Science)  Petroleum dependency is a challenge that can potentially be partly offset by agricultural production of biofuels, while decreasing net, nonrenewable carbon dioxide output. Plants have not beendomesticated formodern biofuel production, …