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Biofuels Crucial to National SecurityOct 19, 2010, By Tom WilemonMemphis Daily News The development and adoption of new biofuels is a national security goal as well as an economic objective, said Dallas Tonsager, the under secretary for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“It’s about getting to that point where you have enough independence in what you create that those who would d.... |
Look at fuel crops of the future caps two-day biomass conferenceOct 16, 2010, By Toby SellsThe Commercial Appeal Not satisfied with two days of PowerPoint presentations and panel discussions, a handful of Biomass South conference-goers wanted to see potential petroleum-replacing plants in the field.
So, about 20 intrepid farmers, academics and industry members loaded up on a tractor-pulled trailer to have a firsthand look at sweet sorghum, sw.... |
Memphis Hosts Biomass South 2010 This WeekOct 13, 2010, By Tom WilemonMemphis Daily News Mid-South residents who want to learn about opportunities in the new age of agriculture can learn from national experts this week as Memphis hosts Biomass South 2010. The conference focuses on how the global economy is transitioning from one based on fossil fuels to one based on biomass products. The possibilities extend far beyond ethanol.... |
Biomass conference eyes alternative energy sourcesOct 13, 2010, By Jim ColemanThe Commercial Appeal The Mid-South's likeliest source for renewable energy comes from its fertile soil -- and this week, the region's residents get to learn about efforts to develop that resource.
Kicking off on Thursday, the two-day Biomass South 2010 conference will highlight the shift from fossil fuels to alternatives. Already blended into g.... |
Memphis Hosts Biomass South 2010 This WeekOct 12, 2010, By Tom WilemonMemphis Daily News Mid-South residents who want to learn about opportunities in the new age of agriculture can learn from national experts this week as Memphis hosts Biomass South 2010.
The conference focuses on how the global economy is transitioning from one based on fossil fuels to one based on biomass products. The possibilities extend far beyond.... |
Memphis Bioworks to host biomass conferenceSep 21, 2010Memphis Business Journal The Memphis Bioworks Foundation expects to attract 300 people to Memphis for Biomass South 2010, a two-day conference at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn Conference Center Oct. 14-15. Bioworks’ AgBioworks Regional Initiative is presenting the event, intended to tout the South’s leadership position in t.... |
Turning trees into gasolineSep 01, 2010, By Dr. Sumesh AroraThe Dispatch Two centuries ago, wood served as our energy fuel for the American frontier, providing home heat and powering commercial furnaces and eventually steam engines. Last week, the Legislature approved an incentive package for facilities to advance wood - an abundant renewable energy source in Mississippi - from the old blac.... |
Agricenter shows off progress in developing renewable energy sourcesAug 25, 2010, By Toby SellsThe Commercial Appeal The road to energy independence may be Walnut Grove. The Memphis thoroughfare gives motorists traveling through Shelby Farms a plain view of the crops that may one day fill their fuel tanks or be used to make everyday things such as plastic. Local agriculture leaders led a group of farmers, academics and business leade.... |
AgBioWorks Initiative office created at universityAug 10, 2010, By Tom BerryMurray Ledger & Times Murray State University agriculture officials have announced the formation of the West Kentucky AgBioWorks Initiative office at the college's Regional Business Innovation Center. During the university's Regional Agri-Energy Field Day Thursday at Pullen Farm, President Dr. Randy Dunn was on-hand to accept a check for $62,000 that will create an o.... Full story» |
The Potential for Sweet Sorghum BiofuelsJul 17, 2010, By Bill GrevingEthanol Producer We're excited about the "buzz" sorghum generates at a conference such as the Fuel Ethanol Workshop. Many attendees who dropped by the U.S. Sorghum Checkoff booth in St. Louis had sweet sorghum on their minds. USCP has worked diligently over the past year to provide information on grain sorghum as a feedstock in the ethanol process, sorghum disti.... |
Biomass Energy Crops Farm TourJun 24, 2010AgBioworks  Memphis Bioworks Foundation, BioDimensions, Inc. and Ceres, Inc. hosted an information field day on June 24, 2010 at the Karcher Farm to showcase biomass energy crops that may be part of a new crop rotation in the Mid-South Mississippi Delta region. Ceres, Inc. is a leading developer of high-yielding energy crops that can be planted as raw material....Full story» |
Project looks to create green agriculture economy in BootheelJun 14, 2010, By Michelle FelterSoutheast Missourian  SIKESTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston organization will take part in the development of Missouri Delta AgBioworks, designed to research and help facilitate the growth and processing of bio-based products to replace fossil feedstocks, as well as other materials made with fossil fuels, the Sikeston Standard Democrat reported.
"Our chamber was recently appro....Full story» |
Memphis Bioworks Awarded $2.9 Million ARRA Department of Labor Grant for Green Jobs TrainingJan 06, 2010AgBioworks Memphis Bioworks Foundation announced it has been awarded a $2.9 million Energy Training Partnership Grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Green Jobs Training Program. The two-year initiative will fund programs to train area workers for jobs in energy-efficiency and renewable energy occupations. Memphis Bioworks Foundatio.... |
Growing a Biobased FutureDec 07, 2009, By Brian GoffMid-South Farmer Magazine  Thanks to a partnership between a Memphis-based nonprofit research foundation and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, a number of West Tennessee farmers are now growing non-conventional crops that may soon be used to create everything from cooking oil to plastics to help satisfy a global demand for a wide range of refined products. .... |
Ailing Delta can take lead in ag-based drive to 'bioeconomy'Nov 29, 2009, By Peter Nelson, Special to The Commercial AppealThe Commercial Appeal While the economic problems of the Mississippi River Delta region are long-standing
and complex, there is hope for the region and it lies directly under our feet.
The very factor that a Nov. 8 article in The Commercial Appeal's Viewpoint section
cited as one of reasons for the demise of the Delta region -- agriculture - can be the
catalyst f.... |
‘Low-hanging fruit’ in bioeconomyOct 15, 2009, By Elton RobinsonDelta Farm Press  "Low-hanging fruit" for Mid-South farmers wanting to invest in the budding bioeconomy include ethanol from sweet sorghum; ligno-cellulosic-based ethanol; oilseed crops and crushing facilities; and the production of co-firing biomass used in coal-fired power plants, a new study shows. The study was coordinated by the Memphi.... |
Farmers hear future of biobased productsSep 17, 2009, By Kyser LoughMurray Ledger & Times  Local farmers met Tuesday night to hear one company's idea of the future and how the western Kentucky region might be involved. Representatives from the Memphis Bioworks Foundation hosted the event with Murray State University and the Purchase Area Development District, and presented the findings of a five-state, 98-county study titled t.... |
AgBioworks Featured at University of Missouri's Delta Center Field DaySep 03, 2009AgBioworks  The Regional Strategy for Biobased Products in the Mississippi Delta was featured at the annual field day and breakfast for the University of Missouri's Delta Center in Portageville, Missouri. |
Mid-South has 'bioeconomy' potentialAug 27, 2009, By Toby SellsThe Commercial Appeal A shift to a "bioeconomy" could bring 25,000 jobs in 10 years and $8 billion annually to the Mid-South, according to a new study commissioned by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. The study was conducted by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, the same group that concluded in 2003 t.... |
Study: Local Agbio Sector Could Create 50,000 JobsExtensive acreage ripe for fruitful futureAug 27, 2009, By Tom WilemonMemphis Daily News The fertile lands that surround Memphis could generate as much as $8 billion a year in the emerging bioeconomy as petroleum-based products are replaced with plant-based ones, according to a study released this week by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation. The Regional Strategy for Biobased Products in the Mississippi Delta encompasses 36 millio.... |
Making a switch in Tenn.Jul 10, 2009, By Cecil H. Nancy, Jr.SouthernFarmer.com  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.... |
New switchgrass linesJul 09, 2009, By Elton RobinsonDelta Farm Press  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.... |
Delta Council Hosts Memphis Bioworks Foundation to Discuss Regional BioEconomy StrategyApr 24, 2009AgBioworks  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. |
Improved Switchgrass Varieties Delivered to 25Farmer Network ParticipantsApr 23, 2009AgBioworks  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.... |
Study reveals potential for burgeoning regional bio-economyAug 25, 2009Memphis 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.... |
Study finds potential for Mississippi Delta to join global bioeconomyAug 25, 2009, By Lisa GibsonBiomass 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.... Full story» |
Bioworks helping to fuel crops for futureMay 10, 2009, By Staff ReportsThe 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.... |
West Tennessee farmers plant seeds of alternative-fuel futureMay 10, 2009, By Lindsay MelvinThe 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.... |
Memphis Bioworks Foundation's AgBio Farmer Network Announces Alternative Crops Initiative for SpringProgram is First Step Towards a New Local Supply ChainApr 28, 2009AgBioworks 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.... |
Switchgrass harvest for ‘grassoline’ plantNov 26, 2008, By Elton RobinsonDelta 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.... |
Tennessee group launches 25Farmer NetworkOct 29, 2008, By Susanne Retka SchillBiomass 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.... Full story» |
Regional plan to jump-start Delta's bioeconomyJun 13, 2008, By Elton RobinsonDelta Farm Press  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.... |
Memphis Bioworks Heads to the FarmJun 04, 2008Memphis 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.... Full story» |
Planting seeds for a bio futureBioworks hopes to grow new jobs, opportunitiesMay 08, 2008, By Daniel ConnollyThe 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.... Full story» |
