cultivator News
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Seaweed Energy Solutions (SES) Makes Acquisition in Denmark to Cultivate 100,000 Tons of Seaweed
Seaweed Energy Solutions AS (SES) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Denmark's Seaweed Seed Supply AS, a move that sharply reinforces SES' position as Europe's leading player in large-scale seaweed cultivation for renewable energy and other uses. The acquisition of SSS marks a key step for SES in its strategy of pioneering large-scale seaweed farming due ...
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Jatropha can revive degraded land, says study
Large-scale cultivation of Jatropha – known as a potential source of biofuel – can improve the soil quality of degraded lands and address climate change, says a new study. Jatropha curcas seeds yield oil that can be processed into biodiesel, but scientists at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, have found that Jatropha plantations ...
By SciDev.Net
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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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USDA announces availability of BCAP funding for farmers, foresters and ranchers
On May 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) had resumed incentives for farmers and foresters producing biomass for renewable energy and biobased products. BCAP has $3 million in available funding for fiscal year (FY) 2016. The program was reauthorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, and supports growers ...
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Europe’s sugar beets produce twice as much ethanol in the tropics
Sugar beets from Europe can help solve the conflict between food and bioenergy in the developing world. “Sugar beets have greater energy content than sugar cane but require rotation with other crops,” explained Jan Öhrvall at the World Bioenergy conference in Jönköping, Sweden. Öhrvall is working on a tropical sugar beet project being run by two companies: Anditec ...
By Elmia AB
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Biofuel crops `can invade tropical ecosystems`
Biofuel crops are more likely than other plants to become invasive in tropical and subtropical ecosystems worldwide, scientists have found. They say that a weed risk assessment (WRA) — which examines a plant's biology, geographic origin, known pest status and behaviour — can be used to predict whether a species of biofuel crop will become invasive, enabling countries to avoid environmental and ...
By SciDev.Net
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Ceres and Syngenta to Collaborate on Sweet Sorghum Market Development
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) today announced that its Brazilian subsidiary Ceres Sementes do Brasil Ltda., has signed a sweet sorghum market development agreement with Syngenta (NYSE: SYT). The companies will work together to support the introduction of sweet sorghum as a source of fermentable sugars at Brazil's 400 or more ethanol mills. Sweet sorghum is a hardy crop that can ...
By Ceres
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Seaweed study boosts prospects for marine biofuels
Seaweed biofuel farms have come a step closer to reality with an improvement in the way seaweed sugars can be converted to ethanol. Dried seaweed can be fermented to produce ethanol but breaking down galactose, the dominant sugar in seaweed, is a slow process. Now, researchers have modified the expression of three genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is used in the fermenation ...
By SciDev.Net
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Mission Increases Jatropha Oil Supply by 4.7 million Barrels Completing the 2011 Planting Season
Mission NewEnergy Limited (NASDAQ:MNEL) (ASX:MBT), a global provider of environmentally sustainable biofuels, is pleased to announce that it has materially completed its 2011 Jatropha tree planting season, adding 40,264 new acres and 14,331 new Jatropha contract farmers. The Company has reported strong progress on the expansion of its acreage profile and now has ...
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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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Agricultural land grabs threaten local property rights and sustainable development
With large-scale agricultural investments on the rise, the rights of local people must be protected. Large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural use by both local and foreign commercial entities – often dubbed “land grabs” - are on the rise worldwide. Often touted as a form of economic development, these investments could have profound negative effects on the environment and ...
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As seas rise, saltwater plants offer hope farms will survive
On a sun-scorched wasteland near India's southern tip, an unlikely garden filled with spiky shrubs and spindly greens is growing, seemingly against all odds. The plants are living on saltwater, coping with drought and possibly offering viable farming alternatives for a future in which rising seas have inundated countless coastal farmlands. Sea rise, one of the consequences of climate change, ...
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Ceres Receives $3.5 million from USAID for Trait Stacks
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) today announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has expanded its grant to the company to develop traits in rice for Asia. Based on Ceres' success to date, USAID will provide an additional $3.5 million to Ceres over the next four years to extend field trialing and development of the company's biotech traits and trait ...
By Ceres
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Perennial grass crops - a carbon neutral biofuel?
Perennial crops, such as grasses, are attracting increasing interest as potential biofuel crops. Perennial crops have significant advantages over many annual crops because they require less energy input during growth than annual crops which not only need to be planted each year, but typically require more fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide input. Research on farm-scale cultivation of the ...
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Abandoned farmlands are key to sustainable bioenergy
Biofuels can be a sustainable part of the world's energy future, especially if bioenergy agriculture is developed on currently abandoned or degraded agricultural lands, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. Using these lands for energy crops, instead of converting existing croplands or clearing new land, avoids competition with food production and preserves ...
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How much water is needed to grow bioenergy crops?
A Dutch study has assessed the water requirements of 13 bioenergy crops across the world. The findings could help select the best crops and locations to produce bioenergy. The EU climate action and renewable energy package has set a target of increasing the share of renewable energy to 20 per cent of energy used by 20201. This includes a minimum 10 per cent share for transport, which could ...
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Ceres` Richard Flavell to Become Chief Scientific Advisor
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) today announced that Richard Flavell, PhD., will transition from his position as Chief Scientific Officer and an executive officer of the company to a new role of Chief Scientific Advisor. Flavell will maintain his seat on the Ceres board of directors and now serve as an exclusive consultant to the company in the field of commercial bioenergy crops. ...
By Ceres
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Ceres Expands Board of Directors with former BP Chief Scientist and Undersecretary of Energy Steven Koonin
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) today announced that former BP Chief Scientist and Undersecretary of Energy for Science, Steven E. Koonin, PhD, has joined the company's board of directors. Ceres' board will now have 12 members, including 10 independent directors as defined under the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market. "It is a great pleasure to welcome a board member with such a ...
By Ceres
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Scientists Develop Fast-Growing Sorghum for Biofuel
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, October 9, 2007 (ENS) - American cars and trucks may soon be fueled with sorghum. Not used widely as a food grain in the United States, sorghum is one of the five top cereal crops in the world, along with wheat, oats, corn, and barley. It was cultivated in Egypt in ancient times, and Africa still is the largest producer of sorghum today. Now, energy crop company Ceres, ...
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Mission Achieves the World’s First Jatropha ISCC Certification
Mission NewEnergy Limited (NASDAQ:MNEL) (ASX:MBT), a global provider of environmentally sustainable biofuels, today announced that the Company has received the coveted International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for its Jatropha contract farming model, a world first for any Jatropha business. To qualify for ISCC certification, companies must ...
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