(Dakota Farmer) New biofuel crop looks good in 2010 trials. An organization called Green Vision Group is investigating whether biofuel can made from beets. It and the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center, Syngenta and Beta Seed recently held tour of energy
energy crops
Back TO HOMEUSDA and DOE Partnership Seeks to Develop Better Plants for Bioenergy
(US Department of Energy) Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced research awards under a joint DOE-USDA program aimed at improving and accelerating genetic breeding programs to create plants better suited for bioenergy production. The $8.9 million
September 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Energy Grasses Take Center Stage at Ceres Field Day
(PRNewsWire) Energy industry executives joined investors and policymakers near Houston, Texas earlier today to take a firsthand look at energy grasses and research developments that are expected to push bioenergy to the forefront of renewable power and transportation fuels. The bioenergy field
August 26, 2010 Read Full Article
WABCG 2010: Sugar Beet Could Have Substantial Role in EU Biofuels
by Richard Allison (Farmers Weekly Interactive) Nearly 15,000ha of sugar beet being grown this season in Germany is destined for biogas production, equivalent to about one-tenth of the total area in the UK given over to sugar beet. It is part of
August 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Beet Ethanol Plant Survives Legal Challenge in Rapho Township
by Cindy Stauffer (Lancaster Online) Plans for a beet ethanol plant in Rapho Township have survived a court challenge. A Lancaster County Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by four businesses who own land near the site. ... Maibach LLC wants to build a
August 25, 2010 Read Full Article
New Energy Economics: 2010 Energy Beet Field Days
by Cole Gustafson (North Dakota State University Extension Service) Farmers observing the trials were quite excited to see a new crop being developed Last week, I participated in North Dakota’s first energy beet field days. Energy beet research plots were viewed
August 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Holst Biofuels Offers Promising Innovations, Savings for Agriculture
by Rudy Kemppainen (Hancock County Journal-Pilot) ...Holst Biofuels, which is an offshoot to its main farming operation, has proved to be a particularly valuable adjunct to the total profit picture, one which can likely be adapted to many area farming operations. “I
August 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Beyond Biofuels: Renewable Energy Opportunities for U.S. Farmers
(Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America) In cooperation with 25x’25, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America hosted a transatlantic roundtable discussion on its new report Beyond Biofuels: Renewable Energy Opportunities for U.S. Farmers. As farmers struggle with increasing energy costs and decreasing
August 02, 2010 Read Full Article
The Effect of Landscape Position on Biomass Crop Yield
(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 from this study were published
June 18, 2010 Read Full Article
SunBelt Biofuels Business Acquired by REPREVE Renewables
(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 intended to develop and commercialize
June 18, 2010 Read Full Article
What If There Is No Climate/Energy Bill? Civil Society Institute Report from Synapse Shows Clean Energy Future Still Possible for US
(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 energy bill in 2010? Even
May 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Chromatin Opts for Sorghum as Key Advantaged Biofuel Feedstock; Acquires Sorghum Partners, Milo Genetics
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, and also announced that it
May 03, 2010 Read Full Article
USDA – Strategies for Promoting the Production of Advanced Biofuels
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 Washington, DC in April 2010,
May 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Sustainable Feedstock Resource Availability: Increasing Feedstock Production for Biofuels
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 his talk are sustainability, modeling,
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Visualizing Sustainability: Developing Geospatial Technology to Address Sustainable Biofuel Production: Using Geospatial Technology to Map Potential Biofeedstock Crop Cultivation Zones and Identify Potential Areas of High Biodiversity or Ecosystem Service Value
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 most suitable for biofeedstock cultivation
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Company Promotes In-Field Production of “Sorganol”
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) and Sor-Cane Harvester after studying
April 05, 2010 Read Full Article
Biomass Feedstock Harvest from Conservation Reserve Program Land in Northwestern Oklahoma
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 land uses such as food
March 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Biomass Crop Assistance Program to Spur Production of Renewable Energy, Job Creation
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 biofuel production. A public comment
February 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Honeywell's UOP Awarded U.S. Department Of Energy Grant For Conversion Of Waste Biomass To Green Transportation Fuels
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 into green transportation fuels. As part
January 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Pennsylvania Project Uses Mine Lands for Biofuel Crops
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. Pennsylvania has about 180,000 acres
October 22, 2009 Read Full Article
Penn State Energy-Crops Field Display is Now Open to Visitors
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 of energy crops in production.
September 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Minnesota Project Releases New Report: Transportation Biofuels in the United States: An Update
"(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 biofuels production processes, biomass development,
September 08, 2009 Read Full Article
Farmers Raise Biomass Logistics and Legislative Issues
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 hearing on biofuels Tuesday. Couser, from
September 03, 2009 Read Full Article
Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Ethanol
(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 impact of these changes on
September 03, 2009 Read Full Article
Will 'Energy Crops' Become the Next Kudzu?
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. For years, researchers have worked
August 14, 2009 Read Full Article
Perdue AgriBusiness to Supply Barley for Hopewell Ethanol Plant
(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 supply the Glen Allen-based company
August 12, 2009 Read Full Article
Safflower Topping Rest as Best Oilseed for Biodiesel
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 crop that can be grown
August 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Corn Farmers Coalition Publishes The Corn Fact Book
.... 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 July 2008 at more than
August 05, 2009 Read Full Article
Ceres Publishes Online Crop Radius Calculator
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 expensive part of feedstock supply.
August 03, 2009 Read Full Article
Plant Feedstock Genomics Program Awards $1.6 Million for Genetic Studies of Biofuel Crops
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 research team will identify the
July 31, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels Research in Wyoming Gets Boost
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 grant provides funding for test
July 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Chromatin Licenses Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane to Syngenta
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 to gene stacking, using the
July 01, 2009 Read Full Article
EdeniQ Grows Improved Energy Crops in California’s Central Valley
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 trial of switchgrass was planted
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Ceres CEO Promotes Cellulosic Biofuel by Plant Breeding
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, stalks and leaves for cellulosic
March 30, 2009 Read Full Article
Accelerating Production of Advanced Biofuels with Industrial Biotech Breakthroughs
From the open plenary session of the Biomass 2008 Conference. Download PDF.
April 17, 2008 Read Full Article
Transgenics Are Imperative for Biofuel Crops
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, and the quickest,most efficient, and