Value chain consortium presented final report

A value chain consortium presented their final report to local corn producers on a business case for sustaining a commercially viable cellulosic sugar plant in southwestern Ontario to support the future production of green chemicals.

The objective of the study was to examine the costs associated with the harvest, aggregation and delivery of corn stalks to a commercial plant and to determine the most viable business model to enable producers to capture a greater share of the value chain while offering a commercial facility stable feedstock supply.

The study clearly demonstrated that:

• the region could supply cornstalks and other biomass crops at competitive rates;
• over 250,000 tonnes of cornstalks could be aggregated for a cellulosic sugar facility; and
• a bioprocessing cooperative model where agricultural producers are both feedstock suppliers and co-investors in the processing infrastructure was the most viable structure examined, benefiting everyone in the value chain.

The report was prepared by researchers at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus.

The consortium was represented by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Grain Farmers of Ontario, AGRIS Co-operative, Ontario AgriFood Technologies, BioIndustrial Innovation Centre, Midori Renewables, BioAmber and LANXESS covering the full value chain from feedstock producers to biochemical plants. Bother federal and provincial officials participated in an advisory capacity.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is the largest accredited general farm organization in Ontario. As a dynamic farmer-led organization based in Guelph, the OFA works to represent and champion the interests of Ontario farmers through government relations, farm policy recommendations, lobby efforts, community representation, media relations and more. OFA is the leading advocate for Ontario’s farmers and is Ontario’s voice of the farmer.

Source

OFA, press release, 2013-08-19.

Supplier

BioAmber Inc.
Lanxess AG
University of Guelph

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