Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2013

Agrisoma Biosciences Inc. (Agrisoma) congratulates the Harper government and Mustard 21 on the $4.9M Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) research and development investment to increase Canadian mustard producer competitiveness and profitability. The AAFC funding will, in part, be directed through Mustard 21 towards improving production of industrial oilseeds for growers, concentrating on rotational benefits, water use efficiency, and fertilizer and weed management.

Mustard 21 has been an integral partner in Agrisoma’s effort to commercialize and scale production of its industrial oilseed, Resonance Carinata®. Resonance is derived from Brassica carinata (also known as Ethiopian mustard) and is uniquely suited for biofuel production due to its oil’s composition.

“Mustard 21 has played a critical role in maintaining Canada’s position as a world leader, helping to set strategic priorities, support development programs and enhance mustard production. As the organization’s industrial oilseed partner, Agrisoma is proud to be part of the effort to create new value for Canadian agriculture,” said Steven Fabijanski, President and CEO of Agrisoma. “We applaud the foresight of AAFC, as this funding affirms Canada's continuation of its leadership in mustard crops.”

With support of Mustard 21, AAFC and other partners, Agrisoma has proven the viability of Resonance Carinata specifically crop as a sustainable source of sustainable source of non-food crop oil for biofuels and is now concentrating research and development efforts on increasing its yield of uniform, high quality oil. Additionally, Agrisoma is working under AAFC’s Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) to capture value from the carinata meal.
The government’s financial commitment comes as part of the AAFC Growing Forward 2 initiative. The successful completion of the Growing Forward 1 program resulted in the first commercial carinata varieties under the Resonance brand name as well as the National Research Council of Canada’s historic 100% renewable jet flight over Ottawa in October of last year. The drop-in fuel was produced using Agrisoma Resonance Carinata.

"This investment will be key to building out the industrial oil opportunity with Resonance Carinata and demonstrate Canada's leadership in the emerging energy crops sector," concluded Fabijanski.
 

Website: http://www.agrisoma.com

Published: October 1, 2013