Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — The Biden administration on Wednesday increased the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the United States’ fuel mix over the next three years, but the plan has angered the biofuel industry, which says mandates for corn-based ethanol and biodiesel are not high enough. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized […] Read more
U.S. to boost biofuel mandates over next three years
Biofuel groups still feel shortchanged
What will King Charles’s reign mean for climate action?
Some projects may be handed to other family members
Reading Time: 4 minutes London | Thomson Reuters Foundation — As Britain’s King Charles III begins his reign after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, environmental campaigners will be watching closely to see if he continues to advocate for climate action and is able to help drive change as monarch. In his first speech to the nation […] Read more
Maersk signs first green methanol deal toward dropping fossil fuels
Reading Time: 2 minutes Copenhagen | Reuters — A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday it had signed a contract securing green methanol as the world’s largest shipping firm gears up to operate its first carbon-neutral ship in 2023. With about 90 per cent of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly three per cent of the world’s […] Read more
Harnessing the power of the rhizosphere
Biochar — heat-treated organic material — can give the root zone a boost
Reading Time: 3 minutes Have you ever noticed how lush the crabgrass can get around an old firepit? It’s a small yet compelling example of the benefit that burnt wood residue can have on plant growth. But there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye in that interchange between plant, charcoal, soil and air, and Prem Pokharel […] Read more
Germany plans to toughen conditions for insecticide use
Reading Time: < 1 minute Berlin | Reuters — Germany plans to make it more difficult for farmers to use crop insecticides in a bid to preserve biodiversity, an environment ministry document showed. “Insect biomass has fallen by more than 75 per cent in the last 27 years in Germany,” according to the paper seen by Reuters on Wednesday, saying […] Read more
Cellulosic sugars co-op offer improves, hosting baling demos
First demonstration takes place on Nov. 14 in Watford, Ont.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers continue to sign up for an Ontario co-operative that will pay them for their corn stover and wheat straw. Brian Cofell, general manager of the Cellulosic Sugar Producers Co-operative (CSPC) says that the co-op has about 40 per cent of the acres committed that it needs by next fall, when it plans to harvest […] Read more
Bioprocessor coming to Sarnia
Reading Time: < 1 minute Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has invested in California bio-based products company Origin Materials. Origin Materials will be building its first commercial-scale demonstration facility in Sarnia, Ont. by late next year. It will be using bio-based feedstocks such as crops and biomass to make new polymers, surfactants and carbon blacks, which are used as fillers and […] Read more
A biomass corn-stalk co-op
Farmers need to invest now if the new corn-stalk project is to go ahead
Reading Time: 8 minutes Farmers aren’t negative or pessimistic by nature, but they are realists. When it comes to business proposals, they’ve heard terms such as “sure-fire” and “can’t-miss” before, not always with good cause. So, do those terms work for the proposed corn biomass co-op? You decide, but it appears there may be a good case for the […] Read more
Canada invests in Canadian biomass and composites industries
Reading Time: < 1 minute Federal and provincial governments are investing up to $2.9 million to the Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba for two initiatives. The funds will go towards the development of quality standards and measurement techniques for Canadian biomass, and research into overcoming technology barriers to the adoption of natural fibres in the composites industry, a news release says. […] Read more
U.S. EPA finalizes 2016 renewables target at 18.1B gallons
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants energy companies to blend 18.1 billion gallons (68.5 billion litres) of biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply next year, more than in a proposal laid out in May, it said in announcing final rules on renewables use for 2014-16 on Monday. The EPA’s long-awaited […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
