Miscanthus appears to be the hot feedstock for December. Last week, Sunbelt Biofuels announced that it will be licensing Freedom Giant Miscanthus, and today, Speedling Incorporated and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. announced an agreement to work together to research, develop and commercialize a “cost-effective propagation and production system for Mendel’s advanced Miscanthus product candidates.”

Neal Gutterson, Mendel’s president and CEO said, “Commercial-scale deployment of genetically diverse, high-yielding perennial grasses will be required for the country to meet its renewable energy and fuel targets in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Speedling has demonstrated best-in-class capabilities in vegetative plug production with superior customer service.”

Speedling will apply its proprietary propagation methods to optimize production that Mendel will use for testing in emerging bioenergy markets. The two companies also plan to deploy several biomass power projects in target locations that are well suited to grow Mendel Mischanthus products.

Greg Davis, CEO of Speedling noted, “We believe that the surest path to success in the rapidly emerging bioenergy industry is partnerships that match complimentary skills and expertise. Speedling’s proven productions capacities and Mendel’s biogenetic expertise certainly meet that criterion.”