Ceres partners with Syngenta to introduce sweet sorghum in ethanol production

Agricultural biotechnology company Ceres has signed a sweet sorghum market development agreement with crop productivity developer Syngenta.

As per the agreement, the companies will introduce the use of sweet sorghum as a fermentable sugar source at over 400 ethanol mills in Brazil.

Sweet sorghum is a crop that has the ability to extend the ethanol production season in Brazil by nearly 60 days.

Together, Ceres and Syngenta will conduct small-scale trials as well as larger demonstration-scale field evaluations with mills this season.

While Syngenta will evaluate its crop protection products’ portfolio alongside Ceres hybrids, Ceres will extend seed and research support.

Syngenta’s sugarcane global head Daniel Bachner said that the company has focus on aiding consumers to optimize operations throughout the season.

"The cultivation of sweet sorghum enables growers to use land and water resources more efficiently.

"In collaboration with Ceres, we aim to develop this opportunity by deploying our crop protection portfolio to achieve consistent yield improvement," Bachner added.

Ceres Operations VP Michael Stephenson stated, "By working together with Syngenta, we believe we can advance the development of sweet sorghum crop management practices and provide a more complete package of advanced hybrids and leading crop protection products to our mutual customers."

The government of Brazil had recently announced that sweet sorghum would be considered a strategic crop in its annual agricultural plan for 2012-2013, a decision arising from a growing demand for ethanol and sugarcane.