Biofuels Producers Hunting Foreign Fields

23 Oct 13

With nearly 70% of global biofuels production centered on the United States' corn and Brazil's sugarcane harvests, concentrated commodity feedstocks have been the common denominator in biofuels industry growth over the past decade. Advanced biofuels companies seeking to produce next-generation fuels derived from non-food feedstocks are attempting to replicate this model - without the associated social and environmental ramifications of using food-based crops. Access to land for mass feedstock production is a difficult challenge for which many innovative strategies have been proposed. Finding suitable tracts of land with nutrient-rich soil and irrigation for which a large quantity of crops can be grown - but without diverting land otherwise dedicated to food production - remains an elusive goal. Increasingly, governments and corporations are looking abroad.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-nsc-biofuels-producers-hunting-foreign-fields-20131023,0,2210365.story

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