John Duff has been named renewables program director for The United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP). Duff, a native of Levelland, Texas, has previously served as an intern for U.S. Representatives Randy Neugebauer and Kevin Brady, as well as with Combest, Sell and Associates. Duff also held an internship for USDA’s Economic Research Service where he managed data on a project …
First Sorghum Renewables Summit This Month
The Sorghum Checkoff is hosting the first ever Sorghum Renewables Summit April 19-20 in Denver. The summit will bring together the industry’s leading researchers and companies for an event focused on agronomics, composition, technology, corporate governance and more related to using sorghum as a feedstock for renewable fuels. National Sorghum Producers chairman Terry Swanson, a grower from Colorado, says about …
Sorghum for Ethanol Increases
Early March is an important time for the agricultural industry when they come together for Commodity Classic. With the challenges facing both the ag and energy industries, which go hand-in-hand, Terry Swanson, Chairman of the National Sorghum Producers said, “We have to be unified.” When compared to other commodities used to produce biofuels, sorghum growers are a relatively small group. …
DuPont and NexSteppe Team for New Bio Feedstocks
Two companies have teamed up to develop advanced feedstocks for biofuels, biopower and biobased products. The collaboration between DuPont and the bio-based firm NexSteppe will be working on new feedstocks for renewable energy, including sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum hybrids. Under the agreement, DuPont has made an equity investment in NexSteppe, and through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, will provide …
Sorghum Could be Aviation Biofuel Feedstock
Louisiana State University is getting $17 million from USDA to study how to turn sugar cane and sorghum into biofuels. The project is one of the five announced yesterday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, focused on developing aviation biofuels from various types of biomass. “We have an incredible opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and drive economic development in …
Chromatin Sorghum Hybrids Topping the Charts
In 2010 biomass and sugar testing programs, Chromatin sorghum hybrids have demonstrated top performance when compared to other materials from public, private and commercial sorghum collections. This according to a company press release. Chromatin is a biotechnology company and its subsidiary, Sorghum Partners, LLC, sells sorghum seed products to growers. Several trials were conducted. In the first trial, 50 biomass …
Sugarcane Promising Source for Energy in California
California Ethanol & Power (CE&P) has commissioned a study to better understand the role sugarcane and sweet sorghum may play in producing ethanol and electricity for the state of California. The Economic Impact Analysis report was conducted by Solution Mountain, Inc., and sponsored in part by the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation along with the California Association for Local Economic …
Registration Open for Commodity Classic
Registration is now open for the 16th Annual Commodity Classic in Tampa, March 3-5. The annual event will be “smooth sailing” for soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum farmers and biofuels will be a big part of the event, as always. Growers who attend the 2011 Commodity Classic are sure to benefit from the value of attending a trade show with …
New Process for Sorghum Ethanol
A Cincinnati-based advanced biofuel technology company has announced the development of its next generation, sugar-based fuel ethanol process. According to AdvanceBio LLC, the process is capable of utilizing sugars derived from sugar cane, sweet sorghum, sugar beet and other similar crops as feedstock for the production of fuel ethanol and green power while generating zero liquid waste. When built in …
Growth Energy Calls for National Ethanol Policy Shift
Ethanol organization Growth Energy is proposing a redirection and eventual phasing out of government support for ethanol in return for increasing infrastructure investment that would level the playing field with fossil fuels and give consumers true freedom to choose their fuel. Specifically, the “Fueling Freedom” plan calls for funds currently going to the oil industry as an incentive for blending …