ArborGen

ArborGen is a leading developer of biotechnology tree seedling products and one of the largest providers of conventional and technology-enhanced seedlings to the forestry industry.

ArborGen is a South Carolina-based biotech joint venture between International Paper, Meadwestvaco, and Rubicon. With more than 50 years of tree improvement research and combined expertise in forestry, ArborGen is developing products designed to meet the challenges facing the global commercial forestry industry. Their seedling products, from conventional seedlings to biotechnology seedlings, are designed to improve the productivity and sustainability of working forests to help meet the world’s need for wood, fiber and energy, while protecting our land, water and air.

Created in 2000, ArborGen now operates seven nurseries and 15 distribution sites in the Southeastern United States. In 2007, ArborGen was named a partner in the Department of Energy’s new $125 million bioenergy research center seeking new ways to produce bioenergy.

In the first large-scale planting of designer trees in the United States, ArborGen was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture to plant 250,000 genetically-modified eucalyptus trees in the states of Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana. Eucalyptus trees have been found to be a promising option as a biomass feedstock for the production of liquid fuel, as researchers from the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered that genetically-modified eucalyptus trees release more than twice the usual amount of sugar.

See also: Biotech Tree

http://arborgen.us/