Florida Farmers Look to Tropical Fruit as Newest Source of Biofuel

This is part of the America’s Future series that will air on FOX News over the next several weeks that looks at the country’s energy challenges.

LA BELLE, Fla. — Facing decimating blights and rising fuel prices, farmers in Florida are looking to a tropical plant rarely grown in America as their newest cash crop: Jatropha curcas, the hottest biofuel buzzword on the market.

As the Jatropha plant flowers, it produces small green fruit at the end of its stalks that contain oil-bearing seeds. For centuries, poor farmers in the tropics have used the oil from crushed up Jatropha fruit as fuel for lanterns — but now they’re not the only ones looking for a cheap source of fuel.

[…]Jatropha is drought-resistant and grows well even in sand, so some Florida farmers are uprooting their citrus groves to plant it. Citrus requires a much greater amount of care and water to thrive, and crops have been devastated in recent years by the effects of canker and greening.

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