New Bioinnovations Cener in Colusa secures occupant
ByKathyCoatney The city of Colusa is creating a Colusa BioinnovationsCenter fromavacantman- ufacturing site inneed of modernization. Situated on a 38-acre, city-owned site, the facilitywill have 170,000 square feet of manufacturing space. It’s also intended to bring jobs toacommunitywithchronically high unemployment rates. Why Colusa? Kristy Levings, rural eco- nomic development specialist with the city, said the future is biomaterials and, as an agricultural community, Colusa al- ready has agricultural waste fromexisting products such as rice straw and almond shells, aswell aspotential fornewproducts such as hemp or flax. These products can be made into biocomposites, alternative buildingmaterials, biofuels, etc. Levings said she anticipates startup companies will work in the facility’s wet lab with pilot-scale manufacturing space calledtheCommercializationZone,which will have various types of equipment to help bio-entrepreneurs go from research to commercial sales. “This facility is the bridge betweenR&D (researchanddevelopment)andcommer- cialization. Itspurposeis tohelpearly-stage entrepreneursandscientistswithgreatbio- material innovations tojumpfromcreation to sales andmanufacturing,” Levings said. HexasBiomass Inc., established in2018, has already committed to theColusa facil- ity andplans toopen in the spring of 2021. Wendy Owens, founder andCEOof the female-owned company, said the firm is based in Olympia, Washington, and also does work in Europe. “Colusa is a great place because it is right thereonthe I-5corridor,”Owens said, “plus it has an agricultural base.” Hexas produces a proprietary perenni- al grass it contracts with farmers to grow. Owens said the perennial grass can be grownonmarginal land, isextremelyhardy, requires no pesticides, has very lowwater use,canremaininthegroundfor15-20years
and serves as a bioremediator, meaning it fixesnitrogenandnutrients into the soil. “Weprefer toplant in late summer-early fall, thenusewinter rains for root establish- ment,” Owens said. “Once those roots are established, thenwewouldhave theplants up and growing in the spring.” Hexasprovides rawmaterial tocustom- ers that manufacture products using the biomaterial—anything fromfiberboard to wood pellets, Owens said. She said Hexas is looking to contract 2,500-3,000acreswithgrowers toraisetheir grass, andwill offer long-termcontracts. “We’re reallycommitted tobeingable to blendourgrasseswithagricultural residue, so we’re taking a biomaterials approach,” Owens said. The company will begin contracting with growers soon, she said. Initially, the facilitywill hire nine employees. Hexaswillbringnewprocessingtechnol- ogyintotheinnovationcenteraswell, totest anddevelopnewbiomaterials,Owenssaid. Levings said Colusa wants to construct a commercialization-accelerator pro- gram, “for biomaterials startup compa- nieswhoneed tomake that leapout of the laboratory and into commercialization.” She said the city is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; California StateUniversity, Chico; and theUniversity of California, Berkeley. “Berkeley has thi s real ly robust green-chemistry focus, which is all about taking inputs and creating new products out of them to navigate away frompetro- chemical based products,” Levings said. “They’ve actually had multiple start- up companies come out of that Green Chemistry Programwith products made from the outputs that we produce agricul- turally here in theColusa region.” Billy Hart-Cooper, a chemical engineer with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Albany, said researchers there areworking on several biomass projects: • Packaging that is highly degradable
The city of Colusa plans to convert this vacant manufacturing site into a center to attract companies that can convert agricultural byproducts into new products.
in every type of natural environment and composedofmultiplenatural ingredients. • Safer chemicals, made from agricul- tural sources that breakapart on their own so they don’t pollute the environment or cause antibiotic resistance. • Nanofibers that can bemade from re- newable sources such as waste materials or byproducts. • Torrefaction—burning materials in a low-oxygenenvironment to selectively re- move certain components of the biomass and leave others, such as biocoal, biochar or activated biocarbon. Torrefaction is one possibleway to con- vert almondhullsandshells.Almondhulls have a lot of sugar, whichhas beenextract- edandbrewedintobeer,Hart-Cooper said. Another possible use for almond hulls is peat moss. Once the sugar is extracted
from the almond hulls, there is mostly a cellulosicmaterial left that absorbs water. This almondhull peatmosshasbeenused to growmushrooms, Hart-Cooper said. At theColusa facility, Levings said, thevi- sionistohostasmanybiomaterialsstartups as possible, “help themgraduate out, take advantage of the region and themanufac- turingcapacitythat’shere,andnot justmake adent inourunemployment rate, but actu- allysolveitbyutilizingourexistingstrengths inmanufacturingandagriculture.” For more informat ion about the Colusa Bioinnovations Center, see www. colusabioinnovationcenter.com. Levings said thecenterplans tohost abiomaterials conference in 2021. (Kathy Coatne y i s a repor t er in Bend, Oregon. She may be contacted at kacoatney@gmail.com.)
Agricultural Market Review
Quotations are the latest available for the week ending November 27, 2020 Year Ago Week Ago Latest Week Livestock Slaughter Steers – 5-Area Average Select & Choice, 1050–1150 lbs., $ per cwt. 115-116 109-110 110-111 Hogs – Average hog, 51-52% lean, Iowa-Minn. market, $ per cwt. 57.65 66.59 66.35 Slaughter Lambs – $ per cwt. 125–175 lbs. National weekly live sales 143-160.42 150.99-181 160-173 Field crops – basis prompt shipment Barley – U.S. No. 2, $ per cwt. Truck, Stockton-Modesto-Oakdale-Turlock No Quote No Quote No Quote Cotton – ¢ per lb., Middling 1 3/32” Fresno spot market 67.64 71.92 72.82 Corn – U.S. No. 2 yellow $ per cwt. trucked No Quote 5.68 No Quote (holiday) Alfalfa Hay – $ per ton, quality*, FOB Region 1, Northern Inter-mountain No Quote (holiday) 180-200 (G/P) No Quote (holiday) Region 2, Sacramento Valley No Quote (holiday) No Quote No Quote (holiday) Region 3, Northern San Joaquin Valley No Quote (holiday) No Quote No Quote (holiday) Region 4, Central San Joaquin Valley No Quote (holiday) No Quote No Quote (holiday) Region 5, Southern California No Quote (holiday) 255 (P) No Quote (holiday) Region 6, Southeast Interior No Quote (holiday) 190 (P) No Quote (holiday) Oat Hay – $ per ton, quality*, FOB Northern California, dairy No Quote (holiday) No Quote No Quote (holiday) Oats – U.S. No. 2 white, $ per cwt. Statewide, trucked price No Quote No Quote
Alliance outlines its priorities in establishing climate policy
Anallianceof groups representing farm- ers, forestowners, thefoodsector, stategov- ernments and environmental advocates hasannouncedrecommendationstoguide development of federal climate policy. Known as the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, the coalition is co- chaired by the American Farm Bureau Federation, EnvironmentalDefenseFund, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives andNational FarmersUnion.Othermem- bers include FMI–The Food Industry Association, National Alliance of Forest Owners, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and The Nature Conservancy. Thealliancesaiditdevelopedmore than
40 recommendationsbasedon threeprin- ciples: agricultural and forestry climate policiesmust be built upon voluntary, in- centive-basedprograms andmarket-driv- en opportunities; they must promote resilience and adaptation in rural com- munities; andtheymustbescience-based. “These recommendations share an overarching goal to do no harm,” AFBF said. “Climatepolicieswill impact farmers, forest owners, ranchers, rural and limit- ed-resources communities, wildlife and natural resources, and must be thought- fully crafted to account for any potential inequities, consequences and tradeoffs.” The full recommendations areavailable at www.agclimatealliance.com.
Dry Beans – Grower FOB prices Baby Limas, $ per cwt, (sacked) Large Limas, $ per cwt. (sacked) Blackeye, $ per cwt. (sacked)
No Quote No Quote No Quote
No Quote No Quote No Quote
No Quote (holiday) No Quote (holiday) No Quote (holiday)
Rice – Milled No. 1 Head, FOB No. Calif. mills Medium grain, $ per cwt. Wheat – U.S. No. 2 or better, winter, $ per cwt. 13% protein, Los Angeles, trucked price
36-38
38-40
38-40
No Quote No Quote Provided by the California Farm Bureau Federation as a service to Farm Bureau members. Information supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Market News Branch. * ADF=Acid detergent fiber; (S) = Supreme/<27%ADF; (P) = Premium/27-29; (G) = Good/29-32; (F) = Fair/32-35. No Quote
December 2, 2020 Ag Alert 13
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