Tomato farmer plants biodiesel trees to secure more income and tap into renewable fuel market

A tomato farmer on Queensland's Fraser Coast is ploughing in 16 hectares of land to plant trees that are used to make biodiesel.

Several trial sites have been set up in Queensland to grow the native pongamia tree, a large, leafy, seed-producing legume which can produce 10,000 litres of oil per hectare.

That oil is used to run modified diesel engines, or be converted to biodiesel.

Lino Maragna manages a property at Maryborough, that's run under the Fraser Coast Training Employment Support Service. He's moving to pongamia trees hoping to get a steadier income.

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