Casterra Announces Successful Commercial Field Trials in Brazil, Positioning Castor Oil as a Promising Candidate for Economically Viable Biofuel Feedstock

Rhea-AI Summary

Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN) subsidiary Casterra reported successful commercial field trials across 74 hectares in Bahia, Brazil, showing mechanized, low-input castor farming can be economically viable for castor oil feedstock. Trials included 64 hectares rainfed, 10 hectares irrigated, and recorded 382 mm rainfall.

Casterra plans a 2026 push via a local subsidiary, strategic partnerships with castor oil producers, and expanded trials across multiple Brazilian states to support castor as a scalable biofuel feedstock.

Positive

• 74 hectares of commercial field trials completed in Bahia
• 64 hectares rainfed and 10 hectares irrigated trial split
• Recorded 382 mm total rainfall during the growing cycle
• Company plans 2026 local subsidiary and strategic partnerships

Negative

• None.

News Market Reaction – EVGN

+4.79%

2 alerts

+4.79% Session close to close

+2.4% Peak Tracked

$7.27M Market Cap

0.0x Rel. Volume

In the Mar 31 session, EVGN gained 4.79%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +2.4% during that session. Our momentum scanner triggered 2 alerts that day, indicating moderate trading interest and price volatility.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Market Context

This announcement highlights successful large-scale, mechanized castor field trials over 74 hectares...

Analysis

This announcement highlights successful large-scale, mechanized castor field trials over 74 hectares in Brazil, including 64 hectares rainfed and 10 hectares under center pivot irrigation with 382 mm of rainfall. It supports Casterra’s goal of economically viable castor farming for biofuel and bio-based industries. In parallel, recent SEC filings point to warrant overhang and ongoing losses, making future commercialization progress and funding actions key metrics to monitor.

Key Figures

Field trial area: 74 hectares Rainfed area: 64 hectares Irrigated area: 10 hectares +5 more

8 metrics

Field trial area 74 hectares Commercial field trials in Bahia, Brazil

Rainfed area 64 hectares Portion of trials under rainfed conditions

Irrigated area 10 hectares Portion of trials using center pivot irrigation

Rainfall 382 mm Total rainfall during growing cycle in Bahia trials

Current price $0.7348 Pre-news trading level vs. 52-week range

52-week high $2.42 Price is 69.64% below this level

52-week low $0.72 Price is 2.06% above this level

Registered warrants 5,076,924 shares Shares issuable upon warrant exercise under F-3 shelf

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Mar 09 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	24h Move	Catalyst
Mar 09	Conference presentation	Positive	-0.4%	BIO-Europe Spring 2026 presentation on AI-driven small-molecule discovery.
Mar 05	Earnings results	Negative	-6.2%	Reported 2025 loss, inventory impairment and warrant-induced financing.
Feb 25	Strategic update	Positive	+4.6%	CEO letter on transformation around ChemPass AI and key partnerships.
Feb 19	Earnings scheduling	Neutral	-5.6%	Announcement of upcoming Q4 and 2025 earnings release and call.
Feb 17	R&D collaboration	Positive	+1.7%	AI-driven NSCLC collaboration with Queensland University of Technology.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Pattern Detected

Recent news often aligned with price moves, with only one clear divergence where positive event news coincided with slight downside.

Recent Company History

Over the past few months, Evogene has focused on its ChemPass AI™ platform and streamlined portfolio. A Feb 17, 2026 AI‑driven cancer collaboration and a Feb 25 CEO letter on strategic transformation saw positive price reactions. In contrast, the Mar 5, 2026 earnings release, highlighting an operating loss and restructuring, was followed by a -6.16% move. The current Casterra Brazil field‑trial update adds operational progress in agriculture alongside this broader refocus.

Key Terms

biofuel, feedstock, center pivot irrigation, rainfed

4 terms

biofuel technical

"castor oil as a compelling candidate for economically viable biofuel production"

Biofuel is a form of energy made from recently living biological materials — like crops, plant residues, animal waste, or algae — processed into liquids or gases that can power vehicles, heat buildings, or generate electricity. Investors care because biofuels can shift demand for commodities, create new revenue streams or costs for energy and agricultural businesses, and are influenced by government rules and carbon goals; think of it as turning farm leftovers into a marketable alternative to oil.

feedstock technical

"castor oil is a premium sustainable industrial feedstock for bio-based products"

Feedstock is the raw material—such as crude oil, natural gas, agricultural crops, or recycled plastics—used as the primary input to make fuels, chemicals, plastics, or other industrial products; think of it as the ingredients you put into a factory recipe. For investors, feedstock matters because its price, supply stability and quality directly shape producers’ costs, profit margins and ability to meet demand, so shifts in feedstock markets can alter company earnings and valuations.

center pivot irrigation technical

"10 hectares were grown using center pivot irrigation"

A center pivot irrigation system is a large, wheeled sprinkler that rotates around a central point to water crops in a circular pattern, like a giant rotating garden hose. For investors, it matters because it affects farm productivity and operating costs—improving yields where water is scarce, requiring upfront purchase and maintenance expenses, and tying returns to water availability, energy prices and land value.

rainfed technical

"64 hectares were grown under rainfed conditions"

Rainfed describes crops, farmland, or agricultural production that depends primarily on natural rainfall rather than artificial watering systems. For investors, rainfed agriculture matters because yields and output are highly sensitive to weather patterns and droughts, so production, revenues and commodity prices can swing more like a business that relies on unpredictable deliveries instead of a steady pipeline.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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Today, castor oil is a premium sustainable industrial feedstock for bio-based products

REHOVOT, Israel, March 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Casterra Ag Ltd. ("Casterra"), a developer of high-yield castor seed varieties and integrated castor farming solutions, and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN) (TASE: EVGN), today announced successful commercial field trials in Brazil, highlighting castor oil as a compelling candidate for economically viable biofuel production. At present, castor oil is widely recognized as a high-value, sustainable feedstock for bio-based industries (lubricants, surface coatings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and resins).

 

Casterra's development efforts aim to reduce the farming cost of castor grains for oil production while maintaining farmer profitability. Success in these efforts will enable competitive castor oil pricing across applications, creating value for all stakeholders along the value chain.

The commercial field trials in Brazil confirm that large-scale, mechanized castor farming is economically viable using Casterra's advanced seed varieties across diverse growing conditions. These proprietary seeds, designed for mechanization and low-input cultivation, support profitable farming and offer further potential through optimized practices.

The field trials were conducted across 74 hectares of commercial farmland in the State of Bahia. Of this area, 64 hectares were grown under rainfed conditions, and 10 hectares were grown using center pivot irrigation. Total rainfall during the growing cycle amounted to 382 mm. The trials evaluated a range of plant populations and nutrient application rates. Comprehensive data was collected on all field operations, including nutrient and crop protection applications, enabling a full assessment of direct farming costs.

Building on these promising results, Casterra's 2026 operations in Brazil will concentrate on two key objectives: first, driving commercial penetration through the establishment of a local subsidiary and strategic partnerships with leading castor oil producers; and second, expanding castor farming trials across varied agricultural and climatic zones in several Brazilian states.

Mr. Yoash Zohar, CTO of Casterra, stated: "I am very satisfied with these results, which reaffirm Casterra's concept for developing economic castor farming. These results are a milestone in positioning castor as a sustainable and scalable feedstock for the growing biofuel and bio-based industries."

About Casterra Ag Ltd.: 

Casterra, a wholly owned subsidiary of Evogene, is empowering sustainable agriculture through elite castor seed varieties and the development of advanced castor farming systems. Casterra leverages advanced genomic capabilities (licensed from Evogene) with its global breeding network to deliver high-yield castor seeds for the bio-based industries, including biofuel. Building on its elite castor seed varieties, Casterra combines agronomic expertise to develop advanced castor farming systems worldwide, tailored to diverse growing conditions, supporting farmers and industries in achieving sustainable production goals while advancing bio-based solutions.

For more information, please visit http://www.casterra.co 

About Evogene Ltd.: 

Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq/TASE: EVGN) is a pioneering company in computational chemistry, specializing in the generative design of small molecules for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. At the core of its technology is ChemPass AI^TM, a proprietary generative AI designed to explore vast chemical space and generate novel, highly potent small molecules optimized across multiple critical parameters. By integrating AI-driven molecular design with experimental validation, ChemPass AI™ enables the efficient discovery of differentiated small-molecule candidates with improved probability of development success. Built on this powerful technological foundation, and through strategic partnerships alongside internal product development, Evogene is focused on creating breakthrough products for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries, driven by the integration of scientific innovation with real-world industry needs.

For more information, please visit www.evogene.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could", "expects", "hopes" "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "scheduled", "estimates", "demonstrates" or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statements in this press release when it discusses castor oil as a compelling candidate for economically viable biofuel production, castor oil recognition as a high-value, sustainable feedstock for bio-based industries, the success of Casterra's development efforts aimed to reduce the farming cost of castor grains for oil production while maintaining farmer profitability and enablement to provide competitive castor oil pricing across applications and Casterra's success of operation in Brazil. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance, or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, the aftermath of the recent war between Israel and each of (i) the terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, (ii) Iran, and (iii) other regional terrorist groups supported by Iran, and any destabilizations in Israel, neighboring territories or the Middle East region,  and those other risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authority, including but not limited to: important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 26, 2026, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field trials and pre-clinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. 

Evogene Investors Relations Contact:

Email: ir@evogene.com
Tel: +972-8-9311901

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2814604/Evogene_Logo.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1947467/Casterra.jpg 

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/casterra-announces-successful-commercial-field-trials-in-brazil-positioning-castor-oil-as-a-promising-candidate-for-economically-viable-biofuel-feedstock-302729735.html

SOURCE Casterra Ag Ltd.

FAQ

What did Evogene (EVGN) announce about Casterra's Brazil field trials on March 31, 2026?

Casterra completed commercial field trials across 74 hectares demonstrating mechanized, low-input castor farming viability. According to the company, trials ran in Bahia with 64 hectares rainfed and 10 hectares irrigated, collecting comprehensive cost and operations data.

How do Casterra's Brazil trial results affect castor oil as a biofuel feedstock for EVGN investors?

The trials indicate castor oil could be an economically viable biofuel feedstock under mechanized farming. According to the company, results support profitable farming using proprietary seeds and detailed cost data to assess competitiveness across applications.

What are Casterra's next steps in Brazil for 2026 as announced by EVGN?

Casterra will establish a local subsidiary and seek strategic partnerships with leading castor oil producers in 2026. According to the company, it will also expand farming trials across varied agricultural and climatic zones in several Brazilian states.

What operational details from the March 31, 2026 field trials should EVGN shareholders note?

Trials evaluated plant populations, nutrient rates, and recorded all field operations to assess direct farming costs. According to the company, comprehensive data included nutrient and crop protection applications to inform scalable, low-input cultivation practices.