Spring 11 MASTER.indd - Thunderbird Magazine

iofuel revolution
same as Thunderbird students arrive with Zerio
for a site visit on Jan. 13, 2011. But chemical engineer
Jaime Finguerut sees important differences.
His for-profit center about two hours north of
São Paulo develops sugarcane varieties for domestic
growers, and each experimental field represents
different innovation.
“The domestication process is not new,”
Finguerut tells the students gathered in the center’s
main auditorium. “After more than one
thousand years of selection and crossing, we have
a complex hybrid grass somewhat like Frankenstein’s
creation.”
Even before the Portuguese arrived in the
1500s, people realized sugarcane was tasty and
began crossing the sweetest varieties with other
grasses suitable for different regions.
Finguerut says the process continues today in
a race to maximize production and reduce costs.
“We have to produce more sugarcane in the same
area,” he says. “The only way to produce more or to
decrease the cost is to produce with new varieties.”
He says different varieties thrive in different
regions, and finding the right type for each location
allows growers to save on fertilizer, water and
other costs. Different varieties also mature at different
times, which allows growers to extend the
harvest season.
“Sugarcane has to be processed fresh and very
fast,” Finguerut says. “You cannot store sugarcane
because it contains very edible sugar that
everyone loves — including bacteria, fungus and
insects.”
He says Brazil provides an ideal climate for the
crop, which requires months of heavy rain followed
by a dry harvest season. But even within
Brazil, conditions vary.
“Even in a 20-kilometer radius around the processing
site, we have different types of soil, different
types of water availability and different types
of pests,” he says. “Sugarcane has to be adapted
to these stresses.”
MAKING TRADEOFFS
Not everyone in Brazil agrees with the urgency
of the need to boost sugarcane production as rapidly
as possible. Critics point to several tradeoffs
and unintended consequences that come with
the proliferation of ethanol mills.
Problems include deforestation, environmental
contamination from pesticides and fertilizers,
the spread of airborne pollutants from crop burning,
and pressure on small farms as industrial
operations move in with backing from foreign
investors.
Developing countries such as Brazil also must
Brazil Winterim students
with Thunderbird
Professor John Zerio,
Ph.D., right, visit a
sugarcane plantation Jan.
11, 2011, near Ribeirão
Preto in São Paulo state.
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