06/09/05 Science and ag in the NW

06/09/05 Science and ag in the NW

The Northwest is blessed with several land grant universities dedicated to the cause of agriculture based research. But some may say, "Why isn't there more of it?", from the standpoint of projects with significant commercial applications for Northwest agriculture. Some may think the same way about the region's several high profile government or private-public research facilities, such as Batelle's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. The work of P.N.N.L. includes a recent joint project with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board to produce a plastic additive out of corn. Todd Werpy, P.N.N.L.'s Program Manager for Bioproducts, says there is more work already being done in the realm of ag and bioproducts. He uses P.N.N.L.-Batelle's involvement as one half occupant of Washington State University's proposed Biological Science and Engineering Laboratory as an example. WERPY: So we're going to continue to work and look at opportunities in this region, where we can identify crops that could be productive for using, for example, in either fuels or in biobased chemicals and materials. He also notes the growing number of private based efforts to develop ethanol and biobased fuels and materials in various parts of the region. And Werpy believes grower involvement in the value chain will be key in taking ag based products from concept and research to commercial entity. WERPY: I think one of the interesting things that are happening in the Mid-West is that many of the ethanol facilities that are being built are actually owned by the growers themselves. They not only create an outlet for their product, but they also have a value proposition in the facility. But there are other obstacles that have to be overcome for this marriage of research and ag to continue to blossom into economical, practical, products that benefit all. Werpy says one area of challenge is in the resources themselves. WERPY: Mid-West, of course, they produce primarily corn and soybeans, so they have very large volumes of commodity resources that are very low in costs. The Northwest tends to be, what I would argue, as more of a specialized crop. It does present some challenges being a low cost producer in terms of a commodity resource. But as always there is the challenge of money, which Werpy says, is why the ag community, researchers, and investors need to come together to develop a business plan for future product opportunities. WERPY: You also have to have the capital investment and the financial investment in the facilities so in a way, it's a little bit of a chicken and egg problem. But I think the only way to overcome that is to get everybody at the table to talk about it.
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