UK farmers' lobby group, the National Union of Farmers, (NFU) said today (15th May) that it was disappointed at a proposal that could see the EU's target for a ten per cent inclusion rate for biofuel in road transport fuels by 2020 scrapped. Responding to the proposal, which appears in a leaked copy of a draft report by Claude Turmes, the European Parliament's lead rapporteur for the draft EU renewable energy directive and vice chairman of the Green Party in the European Parliament, NFU Vice President Paul Temple said the ten per cent target was vital if efforts to deal with emissions from the transport sector were to have any success.

A series of trials testing the cultivation potential of jatropha curcas in poor soils has been set up by D1 Oils. The tests will be carried out on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, in co-operation with University of Bengkulu (UNIB) in South West Sumatra, and will look at the performance of jatropha in "ultisol" soil types, which are common in Indonesia.

The Farm Bill passed today (15th May) by the US Senate will, says the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) encourage biofuel producers to move more rapidly to commercialize advanced biofuels and help farmers transition to growing energy crops for a sustainable biofuel industry. In a statement released following the passage of the bill through the Senate, effectively finalizing it, BIO's President & CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement:

A partnership to study the use of sustainable biofuels for use in commercial aviation was launched today (15th May) by Honeywell. The partners in the project include UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, Honeywell Aerospace, Airbus, JetBlue Airways, and International Aero Engines. According to Honeywell the effort will focus on developing and testing renewable energy technology to convert biofeedstocks to commercial aviation fuels, with specific focus on "second-generation" feedstocks such as algae which do not compete with food or water resources.

A joint venture company, to develop and commercialize a low-cost technology solution for the production of cellulosic ethanol,  has been set up by DuPont and Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S it was announced today (15th May). The company, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, will initially target corn stover and sugar cane bagasse, but future targets include multiple ligno-cellulosic feedstocks including wheat straw, a variety of energy crops and other biomass sources. The company represents an initial three-year investment of USD 140 million by the partners on a 50/50 basis.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics has identifed sweet sorghum as a smart crop which can produce both fuel and food. “Sweet sorghum provides an opportunity for developing countries to re-direct oil money that used to go overseas back into their own rural economies,” says Dr. William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, one of the 15 allied centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Green Star Products, Inc. (OTC:GSPI) today announced that it has publicly released the entire chronological technical report on its 2007-2008 algae (40,000 liter) demonstration facility.

A technical report covering the development and testing of the Green Star Products algae demonstration facility has been released by the company. The 40,000 litre facility, located in Montana, has been through a test cycle which started in 2007. The company's business plan includes commercial production in the 2008-2009 timeframe.

The 20-page report can be reviewed at GreenStarUSA.com.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) has provided notice to the Chicago Stock Exchange of its intention to delist all of its shares from that exchange. In a statement released yesterday (7th April) the company explained that it will continue to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, its primary listing exchange, under ticker symbol ADM.

ADM explained that it is withdrawing from the Chicago Stock Exchange because it does not need a secondary listing on the Chicago Stock Exchange given its ongoing primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The withdrawal is expected to be effective in approximately three weeks.