Casterra Announces Successful Commercial Field Trials in Brazil, Positioning Castor Oil as a Promising Candidate for Economically Viable Biofuel Feedstock

(Casterra Ag/PR Newswire) Today, castor oil is a premium sustainable industrial feedstock for bio-based products -- Casterra Ag Ltd. ("Casterra"), a developer of high-yield castor seed varieties and integrated castor farming solutions, and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN) (TASE: EVGN), today (March 31, 2026) announced successful commercial field trials in Brazil, highlighting castor oil as a compelling candidate for economically viable biofuel production. At present, castor oil is widely recognized as a high-value, sustainable feedstock for bio-based industries (lubricants, surface coatings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and resins).

Casterra's development efforts aim to reduce the farming cost of castor grains for oil production while maintaining farmer profitability. Success in these efforts will enable competitive castor oil pricing across applications, creating value for all stakeholders along the value chain.

The commercial field trials in Brazil confirm that large-scale, mechanized castor farming is economically viable using Casterra's advanced seed varieties across diverse growing conditions. These proprietary seeds, designed for mechanization and low-input cultivation, support profitable farming and offer further potential through optimized practices.

The field trials were conducted across 74 hectares of commercial farmland in the State of Bahia. Of this area, 64 hectares were grown under rainfed conditions, and 10 hectares were grown using center pivot irrigation. Total rainfall during the growing cycle amounted to 382 mm. The trials evaluated a range of plant populations and nutrient application rates. Comprehensive data was collected on all field operations, including nutrient and crop protection applications, enabling a full assessment of direct farming costs.

Building on these promising results, Casterra's 2026 operations in Brazil will concentrate on two key objectives: first, driving commercial penetration through the establishment of a local subsidiary and strategic partnerships with leading castor oil producers; and second, expanding castor farming trials across varied agricultural and climatic zones in several Brazilian states.

Mr. Yoash Zohar, CTO of Casterra, stated: "I am very satisfied with these results, which reaffirm Casterra's concept for developing economic castor farming. These results are a milestone in positioning castor as a sustainable and scalable feedstock for the growing biofuel and bio-based industries."

Casterra, a wholly owned subsidiary of Evogene, is empowering sustainable agriculture through elite castor seed varieties and the development of advanced castor farming systems. Casterra leverages advanced genomic capabilities (licensed from Evogene) with its global breeding network to deliver high-yield castor seeds for the bio-based industries, including biofuel. Building on its elite castor seed varieties, Casterra combines agronomic expertise to develop advanced castor farming systems worldwide, tailored to diverse growing conditions, supporting farmers and industries in achieving sustainable production goals while advancing bio-based solutions.

Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq/TASE: EVGN) is a pioneering company in computational chemistry, specializing in the generative design of small molecules for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. At the core of its technology is ChemPass AITM, a proprietary generative AI designed to explore vast chemical space and generate novel, highly potent small molecules optimized across multiple critical parameters. By integrating AI-driven molecular design with experimental validation, ChemPass AI™ enables the efficient discovery of differentiated small-molecule candidates with improved probability of development success. Built on this powerful technological foundation, and through strategic partnerships alongside internal product development, Evogene is focused on creating breakthrough products for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries, driven by the integration of scientific innovation with real-world industry needs.