One of Vylor’s first initiatives in Brazil after completing its spin-off from Corteva will be an unusual one: introducing Indian mustard as a feedstock for biofuel production.
The company is targeting sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, as well as hydrotreated vegetable oil, or HVO, a renewable diesel that is chemically similar to fossil diesel and can be used in heavy-duty vehicles without engine modifications.
Brazilian production of these fuels, particularly SAF, has so far centered largely on soybean oil, although companies are developing alternative feedstocks including macauba (a Brazilian palm), animal fats and waste oils such as used cooking oil.
Vylor inherited the project from Corteva through Etlas, a joint venture with BP that plans to produce biofuels from mustard, canola and sunflower.
Etlas aims to produce 1 million metric tons of feedstock annually by 2030, enough to support production of 800,000 metric tons of biofuels a year. Initial supplies are expected in 2027, initially for testing in biofuel production and refinery co-processing.
“We imported some hybrids from India, following the regulatory process, to conduct the first trials,” Anelcindo Souza, Vylor’s marketing director for Brazil and Paraguay, said in an interview. “We’re learning how the crop performs in Brazil.”
Commercial contracts have not yet been signed and will be handled by Etlas, Souza said.
Competitive Advantages
Indian mustard could offer significant advantages over other agricultural feedstocks used to produce biofuels, according to Vylor.
The crop is well suited to hot, dry conditions and has a short growing cycle of about 30 to 60 days. Those characteristics could make it attractive in areas where temperature and rainfall patterns make safrinha corn, sorghum or cotton — crops planted after the main summer harvest — economically or agronomically challenging.
Vylor has identified 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) in northern Brazil with potential for Indian mustard as a second crop. Of that area, between 700,000 and 1 million hectares (1.7 million to 2.5 million acres) currently remain fallow during that planting window.
“Farmers aren’t planting during that window because neither corn nor sorghum makes financial sense,” Souza said.
Indian mustard seeds have an oil yield of about 35% to 40% after crushing, Souza said. That compares with roughly 20% for soybeans and about 30% for macauba, another emerging feedstock being considered for SAF.
The initiative remains at an early stage, but Etlas expects its first commercial-scale planting in 2028, said William Weber, Vylor’s president for its Brazil and Paraguay commercial unit. The venture has not disclosed a target acreage.
“We tested it for three years, and now we’re designing the supply chain so it can fit into the second-crop window in regions facing climate constraints,” Weber said. Despite the seed’s small size, he added, its oil potential is significant.
Hybrid Wheat
Vylor announced Thursday that it had completed its separation from Corteva, becoming an independent, publicly traded company. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VYLR.
The company starts out with a technology portfolio valued at $19 billion and plans 12 technology-platform launches through 2035 targeting some of Brazil’s largest crops, including soybeans, corn and wheat.
Among them is Xpedite, Vylor’s proprietary system for developing hybrid wheat. Company research indicates the technology can deliver consistently high productivity and greater yield stability, including improved resilience to disease and drought.
Corteva’s predecessor businesses helped pioneer commercial hybrid corn seeds nearly a century ago, and Vylor is now seeking to bring a similar technological shift to wheat.
Vylor also plans seven corn-related launches over the next decade. One technology under testing has shown yield gains of as much as 3.3 bags per hectare, or about 198 kilograms per hectare, compared with seed technologies currently prevalent in the market — a bag weighs 60 kilograms.
The company’s corn pipeline also includes a gene-editing platform aimed at improving disease resistance.
For soybeans, Vylor plans four launches through 2035, including a proprietary platform that the company says would provide the broadest spectrum of insect control on the market.
The products stem from research and development spending that, according to Vylor, historically amounted to about 10% of annual sales from the seed and genetics businesses that now make up the independent company.
This story was translated from the original Portuguese with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by The AgriBiz editorial staff.
