New Energy Farms (NEF) is now providing on-mill production of synthetic seeds via licensing of its CEEDSâ„¢ technology in Brazil. CEEDSâ„¢ solves multiple problems, including reducing the high cost of field sugarcane seed production. Profit is being lost due to using cane as the planting material; disease in this cane also reduces yield; and planting systems are slow, requiring capital-intensive equipment or high levels of labour, according to the press release. CEEDSâ„¢ technology produces synthetic sugarcane seeds, small, uniform propagules that are directly drilled into the ground.
They solve these issues in sugarcane planting. Firstly, synthetic seed production is in small CEEDSâ„¢ nurseries (at mill sites), eliminating the need for sugarcane seed fields and increasing profit, as the seed cane area can be milled rather than planted. Less than 5 hectares (of non-agricultural land) is required to produce CEEDSâ„¢ for 1,000 ha of planting, compared to over 175 hectares with field seed-cane.
AgriTech
