AURI NEWS

MDA funds dairy and livestock co-ops
St. Paul, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Agriculture awarded more than $107,000 to five Minnesota farm cooperatives in November. Over the course of the next year, the funds will support value-added product development through feasibility and market analysis.

The funds represent the MDA's first round of awards under the "Value Added Agriculture Processing and Marketing Grant Program," a new statewide program derived from a $200,000 state legislature appropriation.

"This provides cooperatives with a real opportunity to determine their product's feasibility by helping with market studies," says Todd Thompson, AURI deputy director for market development and a member of the grant review committee. "This is the first phase of the program. The second will be to help with the development of products that fit the market."

The five coops receiving grant money include Rangeland Chicken Cooperative of Morgan, Prairie Farmers Cooperative of Granite Falls, Lake Superior Meats in Wrenshall, Prairie Lamb Cooperative of Belview and Midwest Ostrich Cooperative in Minnetonka.

AURI has worked with each of the co-ops receiving the grants, and AURI's meat lab in Marshall will serve as a resource for product development, testing and HACCP training.

For more information, contact Paul Hugunin at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture at (612) 297-5510.

Seed money for NewBio
Minneapolis, Minn. -- NewBio Inc., a startup firm which manufactures and markets a wastewater treatment system for the food industry, was one of 11 winners in the first US WEST New Ventures $100,000 Seed Money Competition. The competition's goal is to help promising new ventures and businesses in US WEST's 14-state territory. NewBio's award was handed out on December 2 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

NewBio's patented low-energy, high-solids slurry reactor controls the cost of food production by efficiently disposing waste water containing fats, oils and grease, says Michael Gratz, founder and chief executive officer.

"Every year the food processing industry spends more than $1 billion on wastewater treatment equipment and operations and another $1 billion for municipalities to discharge untreated water. These costs can be eliminated by installing a pre-treatment system like the NewBio anaerobic reactor."

US WEST's competition recognizes the contributions small businesses and entrepreneurs make to their communities. Winners were selected based on product feasibility, creativity and the proposed use of funds. AURI has also assisted NewBio, both technically and with a recent Partnership loan.