Biodiesel and Ethanol Investing

CBC/Radio-Canada reports that a $10.5-million-U.S. research project aimed at mapping the DNA sequence of sunflowers could one day yield a new variety for both food and fuel. Researchers envision crossbreeding a standard sunflower with the Silverleaf species from Texas to produce a hybrid filled with complex sugars that can be turned into ethanol. The Genomics of Sunflower project is funded by Genome Canada through the Canadian government, Genome British Columbia, the U.S. Energy and Agriculture departments and France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research.