In order to speed up the development and international spread of energy cane, Nufarm Limited announced that it had acquired energy cane assets and entered into long-term technology access and licence agreement with the GranBio Investimentos SA group.
In a statement, Nufarm said the acquisition costs US$25 million and includes the energy cane production assets of Granbio, including its germplasm, breeding materials, and related know-how, as well as products in various stages of development and customer contracts.
“This agreement is a tangible example of Nufarm’s growth strategy in action — investing in sustainable, innovative technologies that help growers get more from their land,” Nufarm CEO Greg Hunt said.
Energy cane is a novel cane crop that was created specifically to produce more than 150% more biomass than traditional sugar cane and is a step change in the production of biofuel and bioelectricity. The need to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets drives global biofuel demand.
Nufarm said its division, Nuseed, intends to develop energy cane as a renewable, advanced agricultural feedstock to supply downstream energy partners.
In addition, GranBio now has exclusive long-term technology access and licence rights in the second-generation (2G) field due to the acquisition.
“This acquisition bolsters Nuseed’s Value Beyond Yield™ strategy. The acquisition is expected to deliver modest underlying EBITDA in the short-term however, it has significant potential to contribute to Nufarm’s earning growth over the medium to long-term as global expansion ramps up to meet demand for sustainable biofuels,” Hunt stated.
Nuseed Group Executive Brent Zacharias claims the acquisition offers a unique opportunity for, and is highly complementary to, Nuseed’s current bioenergy platform, which includes its proprietary low-carbon renewable energy feedstock, Nuseed Carinata.
“Energy cane is a proven technology and innovation that is ready to deploy and scale. Adding energy cane, and leveraging our existing Nuseed Carinata platform and established model, enables Nuseed to provide advanced feedstocks to a broader suite of energy forms,” Zacharias said.
For the past 10 years, GranBio has been developing energy cane using conventional hybrid plant breeding to enhance its energy output equation. As a result, a more robust cane is produced, which has high fibre content, high productivity potential, and is perfect for producing biofuels, biochemicals, and generating and/or cogenerating bioelectricity.
“The long-term alliance with Nuseed will accelerate and improve the agricultural and technological advancements of energy cane worldwide. It will create a very powerful global solution to secure large-scale, non-food biomass as a reliable feedstock to biofuels such as Net Zero 2GB ethanol and 2G sustainable aviation fuel (SAF),” GranBio CEO Bernardo Gradin said.
