Grainnet

Date Posted: September 7, 2007

by Myke Feinman, BioFuels Journal Editor

Lee County Extension Service Agent Roy Beckford (with shovel) plants jatropha in a test plot Aug. 23.

Lee County, FL--Fitzroy “Roy” Beckford, agriculture and natural resources agent for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Services and Lee County Extension Services believes jatropha is a better feedstock for biodiesel than soybeans.

To prove the point, Beckford has obtained a donation of land from Lee County and a donation of high-yielding cloned jatropha seedlings from India for a half-acre plot that was planted Aug. 23.

“Jatropha is not a food crop,” Beckford said. “It’s a biodiesel crop we can grow here on marginal land.”

Jatropha, native to the Americas, is currently being utilized in places like India and Brazil as a biodiesel feedstock.

Beckford said he believes this is the first test plot for jatropha in the United States.

Beckford said the cloned seedlings are higher in oil content than wild jatropha—45% compared to 35%.

“The estimated cost per barrel—$43—edges out every single crop in the United States,” Beckford said. “Soybeans are $122 per barrel. Sugarcane is the only thing that comes close at $45.”

The project will test the crop in:

• Drought conditions.

• Flood conditions.

• Insect resistance.

• Disease resistance.

At harvest time in two years, the study may also test mechanical harvesting.

For more information, call 239-461-7500.

more GRAIN NEWS...