Renewable energy sectors to benefit from new collaboration

FuturaGene, which works in the enhancement of yield and sustainability in woody crops for biopower and biofuel markets, will work with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre (DDPSC) to test its technology on staple crops grown by farmers in Asia, Africa and Brazil.

Yield enhancement technology will be tested on model plants and, if successful, transferred to specific food crops. FuturaGene’s aim is to provide increased food security to small and subsistence farmers, particularly in arid and semi-arid parts of those regions.

Specifically, the DDPSC’s modifications using FuturaGene´s technology will seek to increase plant biomass levels and make crops more valuable as feed for animals.

‘This collaboration represents a great opportunity to apply a technology that has been proven in planted forestry to be evaluated in crops which are important for food security in some of the poorest regions of the world,’ says FuturaGene VP for regulatory affairs Eugenio Ulian.

The DDPSC is based in Missouri, US and claims to be the world’s largest independent non-profit research institute focused on plant science.