New%20Agricultural%20Visions%20Australia%20(NAVA)

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New Agricultural Visions Australia (NAVA)
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Mission delivering products from Australian and
  eventually worldwide agriculture through the
  application of sustainable and environmentally
  beneficial biomass conversion technologies.

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NAVA Founders
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Dr David Stalker - Over 20 years of experience
  agricultural biotechnology. A founding scientist
  of Calgene, Inc in 1981, the pioneering
  agricultural biotechnology company in Davis, CA.
  Involved in the conception and commercialization
  of agricultural biotechnology products include
  Flavr Savr tomato, BXN cotton and Bollgard II
  cotton. Director of Round-Up Ready Technology for
  Monsanto Co from 1997 -1999 and has an extensive
  background in the invention and commercialization
  of biotech crops and has consulted widely for the
  industry.
• Dr Trevor Stevenson - As a founding scientist of
  Florigene Ltd (initially Calgene Pacific) in
  1986, developed the initial scientific program
  for flower color modification. Florigene now
  sells genetically engineered flowers world wide
  and Dr Stevensons pioneering efforts were
  critical to Florigenes current success.
  Currently Associate Professor of Plant
  Biotechnology at RMIT. Over 15 years experience
  in agricultural biotechnology.

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NV Founders (cont)
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Dr Michael Dalling A former Professor at the
  University of Melbourne, Dr Dalling was a founder
  and initial Managing Director of Florigene
  (Calgene Pacific) in 1986 where he established
  the critical early business/corporate
  relationships that ultimately resulted in the
  commercial success of Florigene. In 1993, was
  appointed Managing Director of the Strategic
  Industry Research foundation (SIRF), a Victorian
  Government initiative which worked to bridge the
  gap between industry and publicly funded research
  organizations. Under Dr Dallings leadership,
  SIRF initiated and managed a number of industry
  led collaborative ventures, such as Ceramic Fuel
  Cells Limited and the Biomolecular Research
  Institute Limited. Was also involved in the
  application of technology for a number of
  start-up companies in Asia. In 1997, was named
  Group Vice-President for Australias flagship
  agrichemical company, Nufarm Ltd, in charge of
  Nufarms biotechnology effort as well as critical
  research and business aspects for Nufarms
  agricultural chemicals business.

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Investing in People(not platforms)
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• The Founders possess over 50 collective years in
  agricultural biotechnology research and
  development, regulatory approval, commercial
  planning and commercial execution
• The Founders have demonstrated the ability to
  originate, generate and commercialize
  agricultural biotech products
• The Founders have established a network of
  high-level biotech (scientific/commercial)
  relationships worldwide
• The Founders have developed a novel paradigm for
  NAVAs corporate infrastructure

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Founders Biotech Product Expertise
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• NAVA Founders direct contribution to the
  following Ag Biotech Products through either
  project conception, technology innovation,
  program development, regulatory approval, product
  focus and market launch
• FlavSavr tomato
• Round-Up Ready Flex cotton
• BXN cotton
• Bxn/Bt cotton
• Bollgard II cotton
• Laurical canola
• Genetically-Modified Color Carnations
• Moondust
• Moonshadow

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NAVA/RMIT Partnership
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• NAVA affiliated with Royal Melbourne Institute of
  Technology (RMIT) a major research University
  located in Melbourne
• NAVAs 10,000 sq ft laboratory facilities located
  on RMITs Bundoora campus
• Creates a novel funding paradigm where a
  corporate entity is located within the confines
  of a major University to off-load infrastructural
  costs
• RMIT holds a minimum royalty position regarding
  NAVA technology/products in exchange for
  providing base NAVA infrastructure
• NAVA owns all developed technology
• Education of students/post grads in a research
  setting with directed commercial focus and
  developed products as the mission

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NAVA Research and Development Programs
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• BioEnergy - developing technology for the
  efficient conversion of agricultural
  cellulose-based residues to liquid fuels with
  farmer/grower directed benefits.
• BioMaterials - developing technology for the
  generation of high-value polymers for industrial
  uses from plant cell wall materials.
• Fiber Modification - focused effort on cotton
  fiber modification for high value textiles
  including fabrics for enhanced dye absorption,
  wrinkle and shrink resistance and natural color
  denims.
• Platform Enabling Technologies a series of
  core technologies relating to the development of
  transgenic plants.

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Crop Biomass Targets
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• BioEnergy (Ethanol)
• Wheat and barley straw residue as the initial
  crop targets for Australian agriculture (sugar
  cane as next tier target)
• Corn as a target for developed NAVA technology
  export to benefit US agriculture/ethanol
  production
• BioComposites
• Wheat and rice as crop targets for novel
  biopolymer development

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BioEthanol the Facts
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Benefits of Bioethanol
• Provides new income source for growers
• Renewable, clean and green resource
• Greenhouse gas benefits
• Provides rural sustainability on a macro-scale
• Replacement for toxic additives suitable for
  virtually all vehicles
• The Reality!
• Using current technology, bioethanol not cost
  competitive with petrochemical-based fuels

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Lignocellulosic Potential
New Agricultural Visions Australia
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Estimated Availability of Nonwood Fibers (million
bone dry metric tons)
New Agricultural Visions Australia
Agricultural Residue US Aus
World Wheat Straw 76.0
36.0 600.0 Rice Straw
3.0 195.0 Barley Straw
8.5 12.0
92.0 Corn Stover 250.0
550.0 Cotton Stems 4.6
0.4 68.0 Sorghum
Stems 28.0 2.1
252.0 Sugar Cane/Bagasse 4.4
41.2 102.0
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The Case for Cellulosics
New Agricultural Visions Australia
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A US Case Study Processing 30 of corn stover
has the following impact
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Adds 5 to 8 billion gallons of ethanol for Fuels
  with no increased land use
• Increases direct farm income 2.3 billion from
  Feedstock Sale of 30 of total
• Improved Soil Quality (no till farming)
• Lowers the cost of sugars processed to sweeteners
  and ethanol to less than 4/cwt
• Mitigates GHGs by more than 60- 97 M metric tons
  C/year 12 - 20 of Kyoto commitment

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Production Costs Lignocellulosic Ethanol
New Agricultural Visions Australia
Feedstock / pretreatment 60 cost/L
Fermentation 20-25
Recovery 15-20

• Raw material costs
• Transport storage
• 1st pretreatment
• Cellulase enzyme(s)

• 2nd pretreatment
• Saccharification
• Fermentation

• Distillation
• Purification

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Intrinsic NAVA Technology
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Trade Secrets exclusively owned by NAVA
  founder, Dr David Stalker
• Expression of Novel Polysaccaharide Hydrolase
  Domains in Plants
• Novel Non-Agrobacterium Methods for Plant
  Transformation
• Novel Selectable Markers for Plant Transformation
• Methods relating to the Production of
  BioComposite Proteins in Plants
• Novel BioComposite Genes and BioMaterials
  Compositions
• Method(s) for Ethanol Production from Ag Residues

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Enabling Technology
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Plant Biotech License Options for FTO -
  commercial license and royalty terms have been
  negotiated in principle for the following
  technologies
• Monocot Agrobacterium Transformation from Japan
  Tobacco - wheat and barley as initial target
  crops and corn as a option crop. Fields of Use
• Production of Ethanol from Ag Residues
• Production of Biocomposites from Ag Residues
• Expandable to Select Agronomic Input Characters
• Actin Promoters for Monocot Expression -
  negotiated option from Cornell University
• Constitutive Plant Promoters for Plant Expression
  - negotiated option from HybriTech
• Cellulose Binding Domain Expression in Plants -
  in discussions with CBD Technologies

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Advantages in NAVA RD Investment
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Australia is an agrarian country with a broad
  history of supporting agricultural innovation
• High-quality research can be undertaken in
  Australia at one-half the cost of conducting
  research in the US
• Australian research tax credit advantages for
  incoming corporate RD
• Numerous sources of matching funds from the State
  and Commonwealth governments
• US ltlt AUS conversion rate
• Incoming are primarily directed to variable
  RD costs and are not spent on infrastructure
  (provided by RMIT)
• Wholly-owned NAVA intellectual property portfolio
  

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Benefits to Australia
New Agricultural Visions Australia

• Generate alternative revenue source for
  Australias cereal growers/farmers from a large
  agricultural post-harvest waste stream.
• Lessen Australias dependence on fossil fuels by
  generating new feedstocks for ethanol production
  within Australia. Augment Australias goals to be
  environmentally conscious and self-sufficient
  with respect to energy production.
• If the technology is successful, provide
  Australia with new industrial potential,
  technology innovation for large-scale
  bioprocessing and eventual rural job creation.
• Assist in decreasing the 7 billion dollar
  chemical deficit that Australia currently faces
  and provide for existing carbon credits.
• A cleaner, healthier environment and more
  efficient use of waste biomass from both urban
  and rural areas.
• Provide novel technology for the biotechnology of
  cereal crops that will be utilized outside the
  scope of existing patents.