NC on mission to build biofuel industry, company sees ethanol coming from grassy fields

The Republic (Columbus, IN)
EMERY P. DALESIO AP Business Writer
First Posted: June 09, 2012 - 10:36 am

OXFORD, N.C. — North Carolina's farm economy, already the state's largest industry, could be nearing a milestone as policymakers and business executives take another stab at betting on ethanol.

An Italian company's Wilmington-based subsidiary is geared up to build a factory that can convert grassy plants into fuel for cars and trucks amid Sampson County's hog and turkey growers.

With financial and verbal encouragement from local, state and federal governments, the company has picked a site that takes advantage of the smelly concentration of industrial-scale hog farming operations. The idea is it can get a relatively cheap, abundant supply as hog farmers grow fuel plants on land used to absorb the dirty but nutrient-rich water from their waste-holding lagoons.

"I'm sure that there would be a lot of people that would be interested in doing that. It just depends on what your situation is," said farmer Gerald Warren of Newton Grove, who has attended community meetings about the project. But he doubts he'll replace the Bermuda grass that now soaks up nutrients from the wastewater of about 100,000 hogs a year, since he feeds all the hay he can grow to the 900 cattle he also raises.

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