Grant to Help Build Agriculture Technology Center

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) - A $50,000 Wells Fargo grant given to the Vision Brookings Foundation will help build a technology commercialization center in Brookings.

The Brookings Register reports that the $2 million Agriculture Technology Center for Rural Enterprise will be a 30,000-square-foot sustainable development facility.

The Brookings Economic Development Corporation center will enable the integration of individual, pilot-scale technologies into production systems and establish new agri-businesses led by entrepreneurs in rural communities.

Officials say two private businesses formed around South Dakota State University-licensed research are ready to lease the center once it's built. Cyanosun Energy produces high value drop-in fuels and chemicals by converting carbon dioxide and sunlight. Prairie AquaTech produces aquaculture feed by converting plant-derived carbohydrates into highly-concentrated protein.

Construction of the new center will begin in the spring of 2013.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.