In California, AgFunder is reporting that investment in foodtech and agtech startups reached $19.8 billion, a 4.8% decline by dollars and 15% by deals. Food delivery startups led the downward trend raising 56% less year-over-year. AgFunder also reported that “investment in upstream startups continued to grow, closing $7.6 billion in investment, a 1.3% year-over-year climb […]
By Douglas Durante, Executive Director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition Special to The Digest As the U.S. biofuels industry struggles to regain the luster it had during the golden years of phenomenal growth, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) came out recently with a puzzling claim of a “bold new vision” for agriculture and […]
Reducing cost and improving manufacturability of the biomass sugar platform through Continuous Enzymatic Hydrolysis (CEH) technology is one of the goals for NREL. James D. McMillan from NREL shared the latest research developments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) 2019 Project Peer Review on how CEH is essential to realize economical […]
Decarbonization is all the rage again – you can almost set your watch by the response of corporates to climate protests. There’s been a rash of announcements that ‘we’re doing something’, and lately the trend has been to announce a plan to be net zero carbon by 2030, 2040, 2050, take your pick. Almost invariably, […]
USDA made a big announcement recently on targeting 30% biofuels by 2050, but did you know there are many ways they have been adding value to agricultural products to help the rural economy? Did you know the USDA continues to collect royalties from McDonald’s sale of 65 million lbs/year of apples in the U.S.? How […]
We may love our pet, but do we love fossil-based PET? Don’t worry, PEF is working on kicking PET out of the plastics space. PEF is one of the most interesting plant-based polymers right now and Avantium is looking to PEF for the future of packaging. Their market traction in high-value applications like multilayer packaging, enhanced […]
Q: What was the reason for founding your organization – what was the open niche you saw that could be addressed with a new product or service? What was the problem, or gap, or opportunity? Catalyxx was formed with the purposes of owning the exclusive rights to a technology, originally developed by Abengoa Bioenergy, that […]
Two birds with one stone – if you can get BOTH a clean sugar stream for the production of hydrocarbon fuels AND lignins that can feed multiple product streams, then you are talking economic viability. Eric L. Hegg from Michigan State University, shared the latest research developments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies […]
“I could teach anybody even people in this room to be a farmer, even you,” says former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, currently running for US President. The remarks from 2016 surfaced this week, and can be viewed here. So, let’s take the Bloomberg course in agriculture, how does it work? “You dig a […]
It’s fun to be 1st and this week is full of them…from the first hydrogen-based residential area in the Netherlands to the world’s first commercial-scale production plant of 5-HMF via AVA Biochem and Michelin Group’s new Joint Development Agreement. Times, they are a’changin’ and the news continues with the development of the largest fuel cell […]
