Pioneer Gives $1 Million To Iowa State Cellulosic Project

By Gene Lucht, Iowa Farmer Today

JOHNSTON -- Iowa State University’s effort to build what it calls a “New Century Farm” to focus on cellulosic fuel got a boost last week with the announcement Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. will give $1 million to the project.

Calling the New Century Farm effort an approach to “the bioeconomy from the ground up,” ISU provost Betsy Huffman said the project will “keep the university on the cutting edge . . . of biomass research.”

Dean Oestreich, DuPont Vice President and general manager and president of Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, said in announcing the gift, “the need for renewable sources of energy requires a dynamic new way of thinking. The New Century Farm will research the practical things farmers can do in the future to grow, harvest and store biomass in a sustainable manner.”

ISU officials say the New Century Farm will be based on the existing ISU agricultural engineering and agronomy research farm west of Ames along U.S. Highway 30.

Iowa Farmer Today, Sept. 27, 2007