SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, has established a strategic partnership with Bunge North America, the

North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd., to research and develop a model to process Jatropha seeds into a biofuel feedstock (http://americanfuels. blogspot. co. uk/2010/11/sg-biofuels-and-bunge-form-strategic. html).

Bunge, a global leader in oilseed processing, wants to establish a vertical inte­gration in developing a biofuel business — a trend that is seen amongst the large commodity houses.

SG Biofuels has developed the JMax 100 (www. sgfuel. com). This is an elite Jatropha cultivar optimized for growing conditions in Guatemala. SG Biofuels claims that the yields of this plant are 100% greater than existing commercial varieties. The company is making great strides in domesticating Jatropha. Tech­nologically this would be a great advance, because with over 200 plant varieties the yields have always been highly variable. The company also has developed hybrid seed production technology.

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