biofuel crop News
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Easing the soil’s temperature
Soil characteristics like organic matter content and moisture play a vital role in helping plants flourish. It turns out that soil temperature is just as important. Every plant needs a certain soil temperature to thrive. If the temperature changes too quickly, plants won’t do well. Their seeds won’t germinate or their roots will die. “Most plants are sensitive to extreme ...
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Reality check for `miracle` biofuel crop
The hardy jatropha tree as a biofuel source may not be the panacea for smallholders that some have claimed, say Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku. It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders. That is what some are claiming for Jatropha curcas, ...
By SciDev.Net
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When biofuels and biosecurity meet
“New agricultural non-food crops, especially those developed to meet the growing demand for biofuels and other renewable industrial needs in the 21st Century, will have to meet triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – criteria,” says CSIRO Entomology’s Dr Andy Sheppard. “Sustainable management of pests in new crops and minimisation of any invasive threats these crops pose to the environment ...
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Lack of science means jatropha biofuel `could fail poor`
Mass planting of jatropha as a biofuel crop could benefit poor areas as well as combating global warming, but only if a number of scientific and production issues are properly addressed, a review has warned. Growing jatropha for biofuel on degraded land unsuitable for food and cash crops could help improve the earnings of small farmers and counter poverty, reports the Food and Agriculture ...
By SciDev.Net
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Fertilizer run-off killing Gulf of Mexico marine life
Improved management of crops and perennials could go a long way toward alleviating the problem of hypoxia, which claims thousands of fish, shrimp and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico each spring. An assessment by a team led by Virginia Dale of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Environmental Sciences Division concludes that low oxygen levels in water, or hypoxia, causes problems throughout the ...
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Energy crops and their environmental implications
Interest in producing cellulosic ethanol from renewable energy sources is growing. Potential energy crops include row crops such as corn, perennial warm-season grasses, and short-rotation woody crops. However, impacts of growing dedicated energy crops as biofuel on soil and environment have not been well documented. This review article looks at the impacts of growing warm-season grasses and ...
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SG Biofuels Develops Jatropha Hybrid Seed Production Technology
SAN DIEGO - SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, today announced it has established a proprietary technology for large-scale Jatropha hybrid seed production. Hybrid seeds result in greater yield, uniformity and vigor while significantly reducing handling and deployment costs for plantation developers. The company made the announcement at ...
By SG Bio Fuels
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Limiting bioenergy crops to marginal land would not work, says study
Large-scale cultivation of bioenergy crops on marginal land is unfeasible, according to a recent study. While limiting bioenergy crops to less productive land could cut the sector’s impact on food prices, the financial incentive to grow crops on more productive land may be too strong for landowners to ignore, the researchers suggest. During recent decades, there has been a growing interest ...
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SG Biofuels and Bunge Form Strategic Alliance to Process Jatropha Seeds Into Sustainable Crude Oil
SAN DIEGO - SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, today announced it has established a strategic partnership with Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), to research and develop a model to process Jatropha seeds into a biofuel feedstock. SG Biofuels President and Chief Executive Officer Kirk Haney made ...
By SG Bio Fuels
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American society of agronomy presents 2011 class of fellows
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) will recognize the following individuals at the 2011 Awards Ceremony during their Annual Meeting on Oct. 16-19 in San Antonio, TX, www.acsmeetings.org. ASA has been selecting outstanding members as Fellows since 1924. Members of the Society nominate worthy colleagues based on their professional achievements and meritorious service. Only .3 percent of the ...
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SG Biofuels Ramps Seed Production and Corporate Development With Key Hires
SG Biofuels, Inc. (SGB), an energy crop company delivering high performance bioenergy solutions for the renewable fuel, biomass and chemical markets, has expanded its seed production and corporate development units with the addition of Michael Pereira as director of seed supply chain and Andre Basbaum as director of corporate development. Pereira will drive a significant expansion of SGB's ...
By SG Bio Fuels
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