As technology unleashes more and more energy possibilities from more and more crops, it can get a little confusing as to which plants can do what. Ceres, Inc. plans to clarify bio-friendly seeds with its new bioenergy seed brand.
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. plans to market its agricultural seeds and traits under the trade name Blade Energy Crops in the United States. Company president and CEO Richard Hamilton unveiled the new brand at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Chicago earlier today.
“Blade will be the first multi-crop seed brand supplying the new market for non-food, low-carbon biofuel feedstocks,” Hamilton said. These biomass-dense crops will be grown as raw materials for next-generation biofuels and biopower. One of the great appeals of energy crops is that they can thrive on agricultural lands that are ill-suited to food production.
“Supported by the latest technology in genomics-based breeding, trait development and compositional analysis, we are positioning Blade as a premium seed brand for biofuel and biopower feedstocks. For growers, that means high yields and greater yield stability. Downstream, it means easier processing, and ultimately, more energy per ton of biomass,” said Hamilton. “From both an economic and environmental perspective, if we are going to turn plant matter into fuel, we should use feedstocks that give us the maximum fuel yield per acre.”
The company says the Blade name was inspired by its first crops, switchgrass, sorghum and canes, which are from a category of closely related grass species, known as C4 grasses. C4 grasses are the natural world’s most efficient engines of photosynthesis, the process by which plants store solar energy in the form of carbohydrates. New technologies have made it possible to convert the most abundant form of these energy-rich molecules, called cellulose, into renewable fuels.
NAFB members are currently sitting in an office of the Senate Bldg. listening to a series of legislators discuss policy and what’s happening on the farm bill from their perspective.
NAFB’ers were treated to a wonderful dinner at 
Okay, this is my last post with Secretary Schafer here at the NAFB Washington Watch. While I was streaming it live, taking stills and recording audio I also shot a video clip so you can see what the room is like when we meet here in the USDA board room.
The board room here at the USDA Admin Building is a great place to have a meeting.
Here’s the whole NAFB group with Sec. Schafer just a few minutes ago on a break before we went back into session.
Here’s our Secretary of Agriculture speaking to the NAFB group here at their Washington Watch program a few minutes ago.
Here’s what it looked like on the Mac screen from my vantage point. You can still watch the event since I also 
The NAFB Washington Watch program is about to start their visit with Secretary of Agriculture Schafer here at the USDA Admin Offices. Here’s the