Washington, DC
February 19, 2007
Energy crop company
Ceres, Inc. announced that
earlier today its President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard
Hamilton, addressed the National Academy of Sciences on the
impact of technology advances and public policy on energy crops.
During his presentation to the organization's
Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable he said that
biotechnology-based innovations across the biofuels production
chain will bring the cost of a new generation of cellulosic
biofuels down significantly, while vastly increasing supply.
"Biofuels produced from dedicated energy crops will be able to
compete economically with gasoline, but the industry will need
support early on to get the first several cellulosic
biorefineries built," Hamilton said.
He noted that Ceres' innovations in plant breeding and
biotechnology will greatly increase yields from energy crops,
reduce harvest and transportation costs, and expand the
available acreage to land not suitable for food production. With
these advances, U.S. farmers could feasibly supply sufficient
biomass feedstock to produce as much as 100 billion gallons of
ethanol without impacting domestic food supplies.
A frequent speaker on energy and government policy, Hamilton
encouraged the public and private sectors to work together to
establish best practices for planting, harvesting and storing
dedicated energy crops, and has asked lawmakers to consider
extending programs like crop insurance and other
farmer-protection programs to these new crops. He also supports
public funding of first-generation biorefineries and basic
research into microbes for use in bioenergy.
Hamilton recently addressed the President's Council of Advisors
on Science and Technology, and the House Agriculture Committee.
He has served as Vice Chairman of the Biotechnology Industry
Organization and chaired their Food and Agriculture Governing
Board. He is currently a member of their board of directors.
Ceres, Inc. is the leading
developer of high-yielding energy crops that can be planted as
feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production. Its development
efforts cover switchgrass, giant miscanthus, poplar and other
energy crops. Founded in 1997 as a plant genomics company, Ceres
holds the largest proprietary collection of fully sequenced
plant genes, including more than 70,000 genes and 10,000 gene
promoters. The privately held company also licenses its traits
to other organizations, including a $137 million, multi-year
agreement with Monsanto. Ceres headquarters are located in
Thousand Oaks, California. |
|
