Evogene castor beans headed for US and Brazil
With 40-60% oil contained inside each castor oil seed (or bean), Evogene’s establishment of castor bean fields may prove to be groundbreaking within the biofuels sector.
With a combined total of 3.8 billion litres of biodiesel being produced annually between the US and Brazil, Texas and northeastern Brazil are currently the two target locations for future commercial growth.
Evogene has been growing castor beans on semi-arid land in Israel for the last two years but has now decided to move these field trials to Texas and Brazil. They are being developed in association with Texas AgriLife Research and South Cone Agriculture in Brazil, with the aim of generating biofuel from a cost-effective, second-generation feedstock.
President and CEO of Evogene Mr. Ofer Haviv said, ‘Both the USA and Brazil have strong potential in terms of land availability, commitment to biofuels and ability to develop large scale agriculture industries. We look forward to working with the professional teams at Texas AgriLife Research and South Cone Agriculture to test our castor lines and further develop them towards commercialisation.’
With a combined total of 3.8 billion litres of biodiesel being produced annually between the US and Brazil, Texas and northeastern Brazil are currently the two target locations for future commercial growth.
Evogene has been growing castor beans on semi-arid land in Israel for the last two years but has now decided to move these field trials to Texas and Brazil. They are being developed in association with Texas AgriLife Research and South Cone Agriculture in Brazil, with the aim of generating biofuel from a cost-effective, second-generation feedstock.
President and CEO of Evogene Mr. Ofer Haviv said, ‘Both the USA and Brazil have strong potential in terms of land availability, commitment to biofuels and ability to develop large scale agriculture industries. We look forward to working with the professional teams at Texas AgriLife Research and South Cone Agriculture to test our castor lines and further develop them towards commercialisation.’
Loading ...
