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New Crops Database
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee have received in excess of $200 million in funding from the State of Tennessee and U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate the commercialization of biofuels and chemicals from cellulosic biomass.







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Making a switch in Tenn.

Jul 10, 2009, By Cecil H. Nancy, Jr.
SouthernFarmer.com
Making a switch in Tenn.

The tiny seeds Tony and Tim Brannon put in the ground the other day won’t have an immediate impact, but the brothers are focused on the potential long-term possibilities. The Puryear, Tenn., farmers planted 5 acres of switchgrass as part of Memphis Bioworks’ 25Farmer Network.

Other farmers in the Mid-South are planting sun....
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New switchgrass lines

Jul 09, 2009, By Elton Robinson
Delta Farm Press
New switchgrass lines

West Tennessee farmers are taking the first steps toward identifying switchgrass varieties suited for the Mid-South.

In late May, producers Tony Brannon and Andy Holt planted 5-acre test plots of EG 1101 and EG 1102, switchgrass varieties from Ceres, Inc., a California-based developer and marketer of switchgrass and high-biomass....
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Delta Council Hosts Memphis Bioworks Foundation to Discuss Regional BioEconomy Strategy

Apr 24, 2009
AgBioworks
Delta Council Hosts Memphis Bioworks Foundation to Discuss Regional BioEconomy Strategy

On April 24, 2009, Delta Council hosted representatives of Memphis Bioworks Foundation at their headquarters in Stoneville, Mississippi for a meeting of the Mississippi Delta Development Association to discuss the opportunities for developing a strong bioeconomy in the region.



Pictured from left to right: Randy Powell, Ph.D.....
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Improved Switchgrass Varieties Delivered to 25Farmer Network Participants

Apr 23, 2009
AgBioworks
Improved Switchgrass Varieties Delivered to 25Farmer Network Participants

Memphis Bioworks Foundation is partnering with Ceres, Inc. to produce commercial demonstration plots of new biomass/bioenergy crops developed by the company. Ceres, Inc. is a California-based plant biotechnology company that is applying modern breeding and genetic tools toward developing a new generation of bioenergy crops. Ceres is working with....
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Study reveals potential for burgeoning regional bio-economy

Aug 25, 2009
Memphis Business Journal

A bio-based study of 98 counties in the Delta region of the Mid-South has revealed 25,000 “green” jobs can be created in the next decade while creating new markets of commerce and reducing greenhouse emissions.

The results of the Regional Strategy for Bio-based Products in the Mississippi Delta, a five-state, 98-county stud....
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Study finds potential for Mississippi Delta to join global bioeconomy

Aug 25, 2009, By Lisa Gibson
Biomass Magazine
The U.S.'s Mississippi Delta Region can secure a leadership role in the $140 billion global bioeconomy by leveraging its agricultural and forestry assets and attracting technology partners from outside the region, according to "Regional Strategy for Biobased Products in the Mississippi Delta," a Batelle Technology Partnership Practice study release....
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Bioworks helping to fuel crops for future

May 10, 2009, By Staff Reports
The Commercial Appeal

While Memphis has staked its claim as America's Distribution Center (a move that is evolving into America's Aerotropolis), every investor knows that diversification is important.

And Memphis is diversifying in several ways, none more important than the Memphis Bioworks Foundation's effo....
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West Tennessee farmers plant seeds of alternative-fuel future

May 10, 2009, By Lindsay Melvin
The Commercial Appeal

On the same sprawling land his great-grandfather once farmed, Jai Templeton, 37, has spent his life harvesting corn, cotton and soybeans.

But on a 5-acre swath of his family's 2,000-acre property in Hardin County, he plans to cultivate a crop believed worthless by generations of Templetons.

If the rain holds out, this week....
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Memphis Bioworks Foundation's AgBio Farmer Network Announces Alternative Crops Initiative for Spring

Program is First Step Towards a New Local Supply Chain

Apr 28, 2009
AgBioworks

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 29, 2009 – Farmers throughout West Tennessee will be planting a variety of alternative crops this spring in an effort to identify the foundations for potential new supply chains for biomaterials. The program, in which farmers dedicate a small research plot to new crops, is being coordinated through the Memphis Bio....
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Switchgrass harvest for ‘grassoline’ plant

Nov 26, 2008, By Elton Robinson
Delta Farm Press

Farmers in east Tennessee are harvesting 723 acres of switchgrass this fall which a new cellulosic ethanol plant will turn into ‘grassoline.’

The plant, which is under construction at the Niles Ferry Industrial Park in Vonore, Tenn., 32 miles southeast of Knoxville, is part of the University of Tennessee Biofuel....
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Tennessee group launches 25Farmer Network

Oct 29, 2008, By Susanne Retka Schill
Biomass Magazine
AgBioworks, an initiative of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, has recruited a small group of farmers to participate in its new 25Farmer Network. The 25 chosen farmers will help to evaluate new opportunities in novel oilseed crops and new bioenergy crops by growing new crops, participating in value-added processing, and partnering with compa....
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Regional plan to jump-start Delta's bioeconomy

Jun 13, 2008, By Elton Robinson
Delta Farm Press
Regional plan to jump-start Delta's bioeconomy

The possibility that the last drop of petroleum fuel will combust into oblivion in as few as 75 years worries Randy Powell. It took about 75 years to build the petroleum-based economy in place today, notes Powell. This means if the United States wants a sustainable infrastructure in place before world oil production peaks sometime in the next de....
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Memphis Bioworks Heads to the Farm

Jun 04, 2008
Memphis Daily News
The Memphis Bioworks Foundation has taken the next step in its development strategy by formally targeting biofuels and related products. Since it was founded in 2001, Bioworks has concentrated on human medicine, and mainly on real estate issues; one of the first needs was lab space to help recruit scientists, which involved the 2005 implosion of....
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Planting seeds for a bio future

Bioworks hopes to grow new jobs, opportunities

May 08, 2008, By Daniel Connolly
The Commercial Appeal
Imagine a future in which farmers throughout the Mid-South ship crops to Memphis, where chemical companies convert them into everything from paint to plastic bottles. That's the vision that the Memphis Bioworks Foundation is promoting. The nonprofit, which focuses on building up science-based businesses and creating highly paid jobs, is planning....
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