Dublin, Ireland
January 10, 2009
South Cone Agriculture, PLC (SCA), an Irish industrial crops developer with activities in South America announced today it completed 553 hectares (1106 acres) of castor plantation in the State of Bahia, Brazil. This continuously planted area makes SCA America's largest castor grower and places it among the top five in the world.
Castor is a large shrub of tropical Africa and Asia which produces seeds containing 40 to 60 % non food oil widely used in many chemical products with special performance characteristics.
Ian Cavanaugh, South Cone's Chairman, comments: "It's an incredible achievement for a start-up company which is less than one year old. And we're adding 400 hectares (1,000 acres) more before the end of the year, which will certainly put us in the top spot in the world."
The world's largest castor producing countries are India and China, which surpassed Brazil in the 80s. Production in these three countries is carried out by small (10 to 50 acres) family farms which in turn sell castor beans to oil extraction plants.
South Cone Agriculture, Plc (SCA) is an Irish company engaged in the development of large scale agro-industrial plantations targeting the biofuels and chemical industries. Its activities are carried out in South America and are soon to be expanded to Africa. SCA's focus is on origination of oilseeds, mainly castor, jatropha and crambe - high value oils with special chemical characteristics.
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