Top state official gives a thumbs up to Stanislaus County bioindustrial initiative
California Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross paid a visit to Modesto as momentum grew for the Stanislaus 2030 initiative to develop a new industry in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
Ross met with local partners Thursday at Modesto Junior College to hear about development of bioindustrial manufacturing, a growing business sector that converts ag waste into new products and fuels.
Counties like Stanislaus have agricultural waste in abundance. What’s needed is investment and technology to convert the waste to products for the 21st century.
Stanislaus County Supervisors Mani Grewal and Vito Chiesa attended the meeting with the agriculture secretary, along with BEAM (BioEconomy, Agriculture, & Manufacturing) Circular Chief Executive Officer Karen Warner and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, an adviser for BEAM Circular.
Also in attendance were representatives of MJC, Stanislaus State University, UC Merced, the Almond Board of California, the county Farm Bureau, Stanislaus Community Foundation, Opportunity Stanislaus and the nonprofit group Sustainable Conservation.
The county Board of Supervisors has committed $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the bioindustrial initiative. BEAM Circular was newly formed as a hub for boosting bioindustrial manufacturing in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
“This is exactly what we need for the future,” Ross said in a statement in CDFA’s Planting Seeds blog Friday. “This is about solving problems and finding productive solutions for our renewable resources, and about creating sustainable, community-inclusive economic growth and jobs that support families in the rural communities of the Central Valley.”
According to a county news release, Ross said the county’s investment in the initiative shows bold leadership in favor of agricultural viability and communities in the Valley.
Ross affirmed the state agriculture department will participate in the leadership council of the BEAM bioindustrial coalition including UC Merced, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and more than 25 local and state partners.
Josette Lewis, chief scientific officer of the Almond Board of California, gave a talk on the research into use of almond hulls, shells and orchard trimmings in making new products.
As the industry develops, the products may include fuel made from almond shells and hulls, and new ingredients to replace the petroleum in plastics.
According to the Bioindustrial Manufacturing Innovation Institute, the business sector is characterized as using living organisms, such as microbes, bacteria, yeast and algae, to make sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based materials.
Ross also took part in a tour of the Aemetis bioenergy plant in Keyes. In addition to that facility, Aemetis has a dairy-related biomethane project supported by a research and development grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Another stop on the tour was the Travaille and Phippen Inc. almond processing facility in Manteca.
The county’s commitment of $10 million for Stanislaus 2030 is part of a county plan to allocate $30 million in ARPA funds for economic development to recover from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stanislaus 2030 has proposed $57.6 million in public and private investments to develop bioindustry in the northern part of the Valley, through research, strategy development and incentives for startup businesses and established companies.
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 4:59 PM.
