ABSTRACT
A particularly exciting new era of research is the development of new crop plants that produce hydrocarbons for fuel and materials. Because of their high levels of incident solar radiation, arid lands are ideally suited for hydrocarbon-farming. More than one-third of the land on the planet earth is arid and semiarid. Several plant species have milky latex, a rich source of plant hydrocarbons, and thus have the potential of becoming energy crops. The recommended fall planting avoids the fungi, such that the winter crop will survive and produce harvestable biomass in the spring. Greenhouse and field experiments are under way to identify various chemical, cultural and biological controls to protect the summer E. lathyris crop from the pathogenic fungi. The plants are perennial, they reproduce asexually, they grow as a weed in regions of low rainfall, and they produce a large crop of seeds rich in oil and protein.
