By ND Commerce
The North Dakota Agricultural Products Utilization Commission (APUC) will review funding requests for six projects totaling $535,702 at its quarterly meeting November 17 in Bottineau.
APUC is a program of the North Dakota Department of Commerce that administers grant programs for research and development of new and expanded uses for North Dakota agricultural products. 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 requests will be reviewed:
NDSU Dept. of Plant Sciences (Fargo) is requesting $43,540 to carry out initial screening research to identify high phenolic, high antioxidant grape varieties suitable for cultivation in North Dakota. Contact Dr. Kalidas Shetty at (701) 231-5058.
NDSU Dept. of Animal Sciences (Fargo) is requesting $42,870 to continue research of monitoring heifers and cows for pregnancy as well as determine if hematological assessments can predict successful pregnancy. Contact Dr. Kimberley Vonnahme at (701) 231-5883.
North American Green Pulp Grand Forks Inc (NAGPGF) is requesting $151,000 to design, engineer, construct and operate a state-of-the-art wheat straw pulping plant in Grand Forks. NAGPGF plans to produce approximately 35,000 metric tons of straw pulp annually from 77,000 to 85,000 metric tons of wheat straw depends on the quality of the wheat straw. The plant will directly employ 30 to 40 individuals. Contact Dr. Hua Sun at (763) 706-7078.
Section3Hops (Casselton) is requesting $39,954 to supply locally grown hops to local craft breweries. Grant funds will be used for equipment and initial set up of the one acre hop yard to include trellising, planting, weeding, fertilizing and harvesting of crops. The acquisition of this equipment will be co-oped out to other local hops farmers to aid in their harvesting. Funds will also support travel to other hop producers in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Contact Amy Meier at (701) 793-6299.
NDSU Center for Social Research (Fargo) is requesting $230,929 to estimate the economic contribution of the agriculture industry to the North Dakota economy. This study will include an assessment of not only agriculture commodity production, but value added processing, farm input manufacturing, and commodity handling, merchandising and processing. Grant funds will be used to support research staff at NDSU to complete data collection and analysis of described in the project description. Contact Dr. Nancy Hodur at (701) 231-7357.
NDSU Dept. of Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics (Fargo) is requesting $27,409 to identify and demonstrate potential industrial applications of cattails. Information collected will be used to develop bio-based products. The project is an integrated effort with Red River Basin Commission. Contact Amy Scott at (701) 231-8045.
APUC is an office within Economic Development and Finance, a division of the North Dakota Department of Commerce.
For additional program information please visit North Dakota APUC at www.NDAPUC.com or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NDAPUC.
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