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Pioneer pledges $1 million to Iowa State to enhance biofuels pBy Jennifer Bremer Pioneer Hi-Bred announced a pledge of $1 million to Iowa State University's New Century Farm for efforts involving the production of cellulosic ethanol on the farm. "We are happy to have a partnership with ISU that goes back to our beginning with Henry Wallace," said Dean Oestreich, president of Pioneer. "We hope this contribution will help work toward more value per acre for our farmers and more demand for the end product." The New Century Farm will include a facility for research in biomass crop breeding, crop rotation needs and ways to efficiently store and process biomass material. It also will feature a teaching laboratory for training future scientists and farmers, and an extension facility to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental viability of bioenergy. "The need for renewable sources of energy requires a dynamic new way of thinking. The New Century Farm will research practical things farmers can do in the future to grow, harvest and store biomass in a sustainable manner," said Oestreich. ISU is also grateful for the partnership between the two which has spanned for 81 years. "We hope to reshape the future of the state of Iowa by adding new ways of production of our bountiful crops," said Betsy Hoffman, ISU Provost. "The funding will help with research at the farm and help Iowa stay the world's center for biofuels." The farm will not only provide a venue for cutting-edge research, but it will also provide training for the next generation of scientists in the area of biofuels. The funding from DuPont, through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, will be allocated from 2008 to 2012. The farm will be constructed on the ISU Agricultural Engineering and Agronomy Research Farm west of Ames, Iowa. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, with a completion date for the main bioprocessing facility a year later. Date: 10/2/07
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