Jul–Sep, 2018

AURI client Clean Plus, Inc. (CPI), a West Concord, Minnesota, company that has been in operation since 1982 and boasts about a dozen employees competes for 2018 World Bio Markets Biobased Product of the Year. CPI has several divisions that produce and distribute a variety of products, including Drip Trap® Granules, which are made from corn stalks and are used to contain and clean up spills such as chemicals, oil and fuel.

By Shannon Schlecht AURI Executive Director This past April AURI hosted its second annual New Uses Forum, which brought together a plethora of knowledgeable voices from across the value-added agriculture…

This edition of Ag Innovation News brings you an interview with one of AURI’s newest board members, Carolyn Olson. She brings a wealth of knowledge on organic growing and modern farm practices to the organization. She is the current District III Director on the Minnesota Farm Bureau Board of Directors, and chair of the American Farm Bureau Organic and Direct Marketing Issue Advisory Committee.

Each year, AURI undertakes significant initiatives and influential studies related to value-added agriculture, and makes them available to the public in order to further innovation in the areas of food, coproducts, renewable energy and biobased products.

Chances are you’re familiar with the federal research and development (R&D) tax credit but thought it was a benefit reserved only for the big players – corporations with revenues in the hundreds of millions and up. Not so! Thanks to recent enhancements in the 35-year-old program, it deserves a re-visit, particularly since a company that qualifies can get up to 9.1 percent of its annual eligible research costs applied dollar for dollar against its federal income tax liability – and likely something similar against what it owes the state (each state is different).

Moisture content is an ongoing issue in agriculture. Many wet biomass feedstocks generally have low value due to the high cost of thermally removing water to utilize the biomass. AURI works with a variety of these biomass feedstocks that contain high moisture contents such as digester solids, food processing waste, and even a variety of crop residues.

As a service to our readers, we provide news about the work of others in ag utilization. Often, research done elsewhere complements AURI’s work. Read on to learn about blockchain technology in Australia and how spinach protein and blackberry dye give juice to biohybrid solar cells.