In Illinois, Illinois State University researchers in the School of Biological Sciences are genetically modifying pennycress as part of a multistate, multi-institutional effort funded by a five-year, $10 million USDA grant and a $13 million Department of Energy grant. The researchers are attempting to transform the plant into a commercially grown cover crop that would […]
In Illinois, a second grant has been awarded that dovetails into an initial $12 million grant to study pennycress and helps ensure a consistent version of the alternative crop is produced. WIU will receive just under $1 million of a $13 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant aimed at genetically strengthening pennycress plants for […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a five-year, $13 million grant to a nationwide research project to genetically strengthen Thlaspi arvense, commonly known as pennycress, for use in sustainable energy efforts. CoverCress is an unfunded co-participant in this work, and you can see CoverCress CEO Jerry Steiner’s overview of that technology here. […]
In Illinois, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a $13 million grant to a nationwide project led by Illinois State University aimed at genetically strengthening Thlaspi arvense, commonly known as the weed pennycress and a relative of canola for use in sustainable energy efforts. The grant from the DOE will allow researchers to improve […]
In Illinois, Western Illinois University School of Agriculture announced that one of its professors is the recipient of a $10 million federal grant to investigate the use of the alternative crop, Pennycress, as a new cash cover crop in the Midwest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant will […]
In Minnesota, a PhD student researcher from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has won a Fulbright grant to study pennycress at the Plant Reproduction and Development laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France. The plant is seen as a good potential feedstock for biofuel but its nectar is also attractive to pollinators […]
In Illinois, researchers at Western Illinois University are using gene editing on pennycress in an attempt to reduce seed shattering, among other traits, that will make the winter annual more viable for biodiesel feedstock, allowing soy farmers to grow an extra crop. Changing the color of flowers to yellow is also high on the gene […]
In Illinois, Illinois State Associate Professor of Genetics John Sedbrook is collaborating on a $1 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop genetic resources that can be used to rapidly domesticate field pennycress as a new winter annual oilseed cover crop. Illinois State University’s portion of the grant is $367,021, […]
In Missouri, Arvegenix is working to domesticate pennycress in an effort to make the plant a viable biofuel crop for use in biodiesel, aviation biofuel and renewable lubricants. The two-year old start-up recently received a $100,000 equity grant from The Yield Lab, a new St. Louis-based agriculture technology accelerator program.
In Illinois, researchers at Western Illinois University are exploring the virtues of pennycress as a bioenergy feedstock and are already working with 62 varieties from far flung places such as Tibet and Germany. The crop could fit well in rotations by planting it right after corn is harvested with harvest coming the following May, just […]
