The strategic alliance announced today brings together the ingredient firm with Microgy, a subsidiary of leading renewable fuel player Environmental Power.

According to the business development agreement, Cargill and Microgy will work together to identify opportunities for farmers and others in the food supply chain to turn their waste products into biobased energy and carbon offset credits and share in the resulting revenue streams.

The agreement also includes provisions for granting Cargill warrants on the purchase of stock in Environmental Power Corporation.

Cargill, which is a major supplier of ingredients to the food industry, said it was "impressed" with Environmental Power's technology for extracting biogas from the agri-food waste stream.

"Beyond producing clean, reliable energy, this technology may help our customers and business partners manage their waste and improve their bottom lines," said Eugenio Meschini, managing director of Cargill Emission Reductions Services.

Microgy builds, owns and manages facilities that produce renewable natural gas (RNG) or other energy from food and animal waste, and can earn greenhouse gas production offset credits that could be traded on international carbon credit exchanges.

"We believe that the expertise of Cargill, coupled with the value created by Microgy's renewable energy and carbon credit production facilities, will propel our roll-out of RNG production capacity in major agricultural and food industry markets throughout North America," said Rich Kessel, president and chief executive officer of Environmental Power.