BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has announced North Dakota Agricultural Products Utilization Commission (APUC) awards for six projects. The awards totaling $445,318 were approved at the APUC quarterly meeting July 21 in Bottineau.
APUC is a program of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture that administers grant programs for research and development of new and expanded uses for North Dakota agricultural products which support the development of concepts and products that support our rural communities and agriculture operations. The grants can be used for basic and applied research, marketing and utilization, farm diversification, nature-based agritourism, prototype and technology and technical assistance.
The following received approval:
Prototype Garage, LLC, St. Paul, MN, was awarded $100,000 to explore and develop new applications and efficiency improvements in supercritical CO2 extraction to benefit agriculture and energy production. Contact Jacob Knoll at 651-357-4461.
1481 Meats, Upham, was awarded $69,625.43 for equipment and marketing. Contact Kelani Welstad at 701-263-1451.
Great Plains Greens, Alexandria, MN, was awarded $75,000 to purchase and operate a prototype hydroponic vertical farm. Contact Jon Wyffels at 507-829-9527.
The NDSU Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, Fargo, was awarded $43,693 to employ soy and corn derivatives, including soybean oil- and corn oil-based vinyl monomers, in making biodegradable pressure-sensitive adhesives for application in tapes, labels, and graphics in the food packaging and/or medical industries. Contact Andriy Voronov at 701-231-9563.
Valley Fiber Processing, Fargo, was awarded $101,000 to demonstrate the manufacturing of three different industrial hemp-based prototypes for proof of concept and scaling of their decortication business. Contact Justin Berg at 701-729-5312.
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Bismarck, was awarded $56,000 for a reimbursement project for North Dakota companies, producers, processors and producer associations attending domestic trade shows and international trade missions marketing raw and value-added agricultural products produced in North Dakota. Contact Kara Haff at 701-328-2308.
APUC will hold its next grant application hearing on Nov. 16-17, 2022, in Wahpeton. Applications for the Nov. meeting must be received by Oct. 1, 2022. Prototype and technical assistance applications must be received by Dec. 1 for the February 2023 meeting.
For additional information, please visit https://www.nd.gov/ndda/apuc.