Iowa Power Fund Board awards $4.2M
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Power Fund Board has approved more than $4.2 million in funding for three energy projects that it says will generate $21 million.

Among the energy projects, Avello Bioenergy, Inc. of Boone was awarded $2.5 million to build a demonstration-scale biomass plant. The plant will use local farm-based renewable resources to make sustainable petroleum replacements and other fuels for market development.

AmbroZea of Ames was awarded $1.5 million for a project involving biotechnology in Iowa’s fuel-ethanol industry.

And Indigo Dawn LLC of Des Moines will receive $225,000 to turn a two-story brick building in downtown Des Moines into an energy efficient building.

The Iowa Power Fund Board said it has awarded more than $47 million for 37 projects.

Treatment plant to be used in aquaculture
WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — A central Kentucky company plans to cultivate hybrid striped bass and paddlefish at a retired wastewater treatment plant in Winchester.

The Winchester Sun reported the move will save more than $1 million for Winchester Municipal Utilities, which won’t have to decommission the old plant. Aquila International of Versailles told the utility board earlier this year it wanted to use the project as a pilot for future ventures.

The company plans to start by raising fingerlings, which will be moved to larger bodies of water after a maturation period at the plant. Aquila will eventually sell the fish for stocking ponds, meat and other products.

Westeel to be marketed by Buhler in U.S.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Westeel has entered into the second phase of a global strategic alliance with Buhler Industries, Inc., under which Westeel Storage Solutions products will be marketed in the United States through Buhler Industries’ U.S. dealers.

As part of this phase of the alliance, Buhler will become the sole distributor for Westeel products in the U.S. and assume responsibility for marketing both Westeel-built products sold under Buhler’s Farm King brand and all Westeel-branded products sold in the U.S., including grain storage bins, storage accessories, grain augers, grain vacs and grain cleaners. Buhler will select a group of grain handling dealers in its U.S. dealer network to carry Farm King branded grain storage products.

This global alliance is the latest example of Westeel’s growth strategy aimed at increasing international business development in the agricultural sector. Today, Westeel delivers its products to customers in more than 30 countries and international sales represent approximately 20 percent of its annual revenue.

ASTA outlines best practices in new guide

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Seed Trade Assoc. (ASTA) updated its Guide to Seed Quality Management Practices to include phytosanitary components.

The original guide was released in 2008. It is designed as an educational tool and to provide general guidance to assist companies in developing and implementing quality management systems. The guide provides information for maintaining seed product integrity from incorporation of a trait into a breeding program, through commercial seed production and sale.
The guide consists of eight modules covering everything from incorporating seed into a breeding program to commercial seed sales. It also provides users with a list of terms and acronyms, resources, general auditing principles and an International Standard Organization.

Readers will be able to easily identify the new content, as the font is displayed in a different color. The guide is available online for free at http://amseed.org/news_seedquality.asp in both a modular and PDF version.

Illinois extension launches whitetail site

URBANA, Ill. — Learning how to live with Illinois’ whitetail deer population is the goal of a new website launched by University of Illinois extension in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the UoI Office of Sustainability.
“Living with Whitetail Deer in Illinois” at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/deer emphasizes that a “good neighbor” policy is essential for avoiding many problems associated with human/deer interactions.

It provides information about whitetail natural history, IDNR’s strategy for managing the deer population, damage prevention and abatement techniques, public health and safety information, what to do about injured or orphaned deer and information about the role one can play in managing Illinois’s deer population.

UoI gets $1 million to study Glossy15 in sorghum
URBANA, Ill. — A $1 million USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grant will help University of Illinois researchers determine if changes in the Glossy15 gene system of sorghum will lead to enhanced bioenergy production in the future.

In order to improve biomass yields and conversion to bioenergy, plant traits such as growth habit, sensitivity to day length, flowering time, carbon partitioning and nutrient use efficiency must be improved.

In maize, researchers have found that increased expression of the Glossy15 gene delays flowering and reduces grain yields while leading to greater accumulation of total biomass and stalk sugars. The nitrogen requirements to maximize total biomass are much less for the hybrids with higher Glossy15 expression.

The project, “Functional Analysis of Regulatory Networks Linking Shoot Maturation, Stem Carbon Partitioning and Nutrient Utilization in Sorghum,” has been approved for the next three years.