Jetropha

[ColinJEly]

Read on a WA Gov't website the other day how Jetropha was an invasive weed and to be shot on site! Also recently there was a guy on the ABC's 'The Inventors' who had come up with a small distillation plant to make bio-diesel that was suitable for small villages in the third world. (Or why not a co-operative in Australia?) Surely if a plant is being harvested it ceases to be a 'weed' and becomes a 'crop'? Also if the seeds are being harvested for oil then apart from suckering you have virtually stopped the spread of the plant. BTW I was reading in a book on Trees the other day that Jetropha oil is so pure that you only need to filter it and you can put it straight in your tractor and run it.
Another lost chance for Australian agriculture perhaps?

[ColinJEly]

Here is an interesting article on the growing and using of Jatropha curcas

http://globalfarmer.com.au/content/view/77/1/[url][/url]