A Rhode Island-based biofuels company broke ground this week on an expansion of its operation at a southwest Iowa plant. BioProcess Algae opened a demonstration plant in 2009 at the Green Plains Energy ethanol plant in Shenandoah. The facility takes the waste products left over from the ethanol plant, and uses them to grow algae.

The algae is then used in animal feed. BioProcess C.E.O., Tim Burns, says a successful trial last summer of the algae’s use in other products led to the expansion of the Shenandoah facility. “So we’re working with companies now for fish meal replacements and omega oils that are higher-value oils that we’ll be putting out from the farm,” Burns says.

BioProcess plans to begin selling the product made at the new plant in the third quarter of this year. “We are working across the whole platform with companies from the fuel industry to the feed and food industries,” Burns explains. He says their product has shown a lot of versatility.

“Algae has opportunities, has different strengths that can be taken advantage of and grown that can be plugged in to those markets,” Burns says. Construction on the BioProcess facility is expected to be complete in June.

The vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City believes the agricultural economy should remain in a growth period for at least another year. Speaking at an agricultural economics conference in Sioux City, Jason Henderson, says he sees comparisons of today to the boom times of the 1970′s.

“You have the low value of the dollar which is supporting U-S agricultural exports overseas, you have stronger growing incomes in global markets, especially developing countries,like China,” Henderson says. “At the same time you have historically low interest rates which are turning record high farm incomes into record high farm values. So there are all of these similarities underpinning the agricultural economy.”

One of the primary differences though between now and the 1970′s, is the level of debt. “In the 1970′s U.S. agriculture leveraged themselves up, quite a bit, and increased the accumulated debt over that decade, and that’s one thing that we haven’t seen yet at this stage in terms of the agricultural boom of today,” Henderson says.

Henderson says the general economy will probably remain stagnant for a while until unemployment goes down. He says the agricultural economy has given some support to the general economy, particularly in the midwest, where there has been the strongest employment growth, lowest unemployment rates, and the strongest income gains of any region of the country.

“I think going forward what you are going to see its going to be more agriculture in terms of its size of the economy will provide some support going forward, and we’ll need to have some stronger growth in terms of the overall broader economy to help stimulate that agricultural demand domestically, and support of our liberties on our debt and that of what we have been accumulating here recently,” Henderson says.

Henderson says government regulations may play a significant role in determining how fast the general economy may rebound. The Federal Reserve Official says he doesn’t see the Board of Governors making many drastic changes to interest rates in the near future.

By Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars

A company that plans to convert trash into biomass fuel at a plant in eastern Iowa is receiving a $25-million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Craig Stuart-Paul, C.E.O. of Fiberight, says the nearly $60-million project involves converting a traditional corn-ethanol plant in Blairstown into a cellulosic biofuel operation.

 Fiberight purchased the facility in 2009. “We decided not to really start the project until it was fully funded,” Stuart-Paul said. “One of the things you don’t want to do is get a building and run out of money half way through, so we needed a substantial loan such as this to really pull off a good quality project that ourselves and the state can be proud of.”

Stuart-Paul believes the Blairstown plant will be the first in the nation to convert residential waste into cellulosic ethanol. The plant will collect solid waste from the Benton County Landfill and from area businesses.

“We have worked in the past with International Paper Company in Cedar Rapids and we’re also working with some of the food companies in Cedar Rapids,” Stuart-Paul said. “We can convert waste, which is currently being incinerated, into valuable biofuel and biogas.”

The new plant could be operational as soon as this year or possibly early next year. Stuart-Paul said 16 people are currently employed at the plant and he estimates the project will create 38 more jobs.

When operational, the facility is expected to produce approximately 3.6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.