Washington Ag Today September 9, 2010 A gift of 225-thousand dollars is being given to the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Lab at Washington State University Tri-Cities from the Easterday family. Cody Easterday, president of the Pasco-based Easterday Ranches and Easterday Farms announced the pledge of the three-year gift of 75-thousand dollars per year.

The gift funds an Easterday Graduate Research Fellow to focus on the anaerobic digestion of cattle manure and other agricultural wastes, including onions. The goal is to establish bio-gas yields and other value-added by products for use and commercialization.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making three-million dollars available nationally to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to conduct feasibility studies for renewable energy systems. If the feasibility study shows a renewable energy project is economically and technically feasible Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says;

Vilsack: “Then they can make application to the USDA for additional resources to convert their operation. In other words they can receive assistance from the government to take steps to embrace everything from additional biofuel opportunities to renewable energy sources for their operation.”

Grants are limited to 50-thousand dollars and the application deadline is October 5^th. To apply contact USDA’s Rural Development state office.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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