Performance Plants has announced that it has established an American Research Center to develop specialized non-food crops for industries seeking renewable feedstocks for liquid transportation fuels, biochemicals and coal replacement.

The facility, located in Waterloo, New York, will develop biomass feedstocks adapted to maximize cellulose energy productivity per acre on land less suitable for food or feed production. These crops will not compete with staple food crops such as corn and soybean.

The Center will link PPI's strong trait discovery expertise with its biotech crop development capabilities. It will evaluate and demonstrate industrial, agronomic and environmental efficacy on an adjacent Energy Farm. The Center will provide the next generation of customized feedstocks derived from cellulosic non-food biomass crops.

"PPI's capacity to deliver innovative products for the biofuels industry is now totally in house, from trait discovery to registered crop seeds for farmers and biomass feedstock for industry", says Peter Matthewman, President of Performance Plants Inc., one of North America's leading biofuels and food biotechnology companies.

"As the main constituent of plants, cellulose is the most abundant renewable energy source on earth. The challenge is to convert it economically into the fuels and products that are in demand by consumers. That's the role of the new facility and its staff," said Dr. David Dennis, CEO of Performance Plants Inc.

The company recently announced a four-year agreement with Lafarge Canada Inc. to develop and provide optimized non-food biomass to replace coal at its cement plant in Bath, Ontario.

PPI's proprietary seeds will benefit farmers by providing new income opportunities on land less suitable for major food crops. Target crops include some highly productive annual and perennial and grass species such as sorghum, switchgrass and Miscanthus. Our goal is to provide economically viable feedstocks for alternative energy ventures throughout North America.

"Our new US biofuels facility signals the company's intent to be a major North American player in the emerging cellulosic ethanol sector. The New York facility will accelerate the introduction of crops that are customized as feedstocks for ethanol and bio-products," said Mr. Matthewman.

PPI's proprietary technologies will enable crops to produce more energy per acre and reduce the costs to produce each gallon of ethanol.