CSR Limited , the leading Australia sugar provider, today announced a $17.8 million project to significantly increase its fuel ethanol production capacity to 60 million litres per annum. The company cited rising demand in Australia for fuel ethanol as the reason for the project. Currently, CSR produces up to 38 million litres of fuel ethanol and up to 22 million litres of industrial/beverage grade ethanol at its Sarina distillery each year. They will now upgrade the distillery by installing a molecular... ...Read more »

ICM, Inc., a US leader in the ethanol industry, has announced that ethanol biorefineries will be capable of commercially producing both food and fuel in 2010. “We are talking about the ‘ethanol biorefinery of the future’…and very near future at that,” proclaimed Dave Vander Griend, founder, president and CEO of ICM. “Fifty years ago, the U.S. fed the world. We will be able to do that again with a food supply brought about by the evolution of ethanol production.” The... ...Read more »

The US Congress has passed a $290 billion farm bill, which will increase subsidies to US farmers and cut international aid programs. George Bush has threatened to veto the bill, however, but there is still a good chance it will be passed into law. Interestingly, the presidential candidates response to the bill were contrasting with John McCain critical, Hilary Clinton supportive and Barack Obama labelling it as “far from perfect”. According to an Associated Press tally less than... ...Read more »

Amidst global concern about potential food shortages and skyrocketing food prices, the biofuels debate has become heated. Many have been blaming the use of food for fuel as a key reason for the escalating food prices with the US Department of Agriculture attributing 20% of food price rises to biofuels. Consequently, news of research into biofuels produced from non-food sources is very welcome. DuPont and Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, have announced an agreement to form DuPont Danisco... ...Read more »

The International Grains Council and Rabobank have indicated that the world’s production of wheat is likely to increase by about 40 tonnes on last year’s figure. With wheat prices reaching record highs in February the prospect of a better season is welcome news, especially as global stocks remain at historically low levels. The price of wheat did reach $13 a bushel in February but is now back to $8 a bushel, which is equivalent to its’ price in November last year. Due... ...Read more »