BY AURI
This past August AURI once again hosted a tent at IDEAg Farmfest 2016, one of Minnesota’s largest agricultural events. In addition to AURI scientists and staff, AURI welcomed a number of strategic partners and clients who shared their own experiences of working with AURI on various projects with a number of VIPs visitors.
AURI appreciates the partnership with the following organizations which contributed to Farmfest 2016:
Smude Sunflower Oil
Visitors at this year’s Farmfest were likely to be familiar with Smude Sunflower Oil. Even though they have products on the shelves of major grocery chains, they still were glad to join us for a few days, offering samples of high oleic oils that can be used for everything from making popcorn to grilling vegetables—both of which brought great smells to the AURI tent as Smude kindly handed out samples.
Minnesota Soybean
AURI collaborated with Minnesota Soybean, once again, to give away $500 worth of biodiesel to Farmfest attendees who stopped by the tent and entered a drawing. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners:
• Steve Houzenga – Blooming Prairie, MN
• Ben Jerzak – Ivanhoe, MN
• Leigh Pikal – Brownton, MN
• David Killion –Wells, MN
Midwest Ag Enterprises
This AURI client educated visitors about their current projects and efforts to create a protein feed source for nursery pigs and poultry to replace fish meal, which is decreasing in supply. AURI staff helped them identify a process to remove oligosaccharides, which interfere with digestion and nutrient absorption, from soybean meal to make it an attractive and higher value feed option.
Lac Qui Parle Vineyard
The good folks from Lac Qui Parle Vineyard were definitely a popular stop for Farmfest visitors looking to get out of the heat and enjoy a cool, refreshing drink! Susan Roisen and her husband offered visitors to the AURI booth an effervescent sample of her latest product—King of the North grape juice, which AURI helped commercialize and ready the product for market.
North American Fertilizer
A producer of biomass ash fertilizer, North American Fertilizer joined AURI in its tent this year and discussed how they worked with AURI in the past to conduct ash fertilizer trials. The nutrient rich fertilizer, mainly produced from poultry manure, is high in phosphorous and potassium and has been in high demand by Minnesota producers.
Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (MARL)
A strategic partner of AURI, MARL is a dynamic two-year educational experience featuring nine three-day in-state seminars, a six-day national study seminar and a 10- to 14-day international study seminar. MARL starts its ninth class, consisting of 30 industry leaders across Minnesota, this fall.
Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs)
This AURI partner is a statewide network with a shared mission to connect individuals and their communities to the resources needed to identify and implement community-based clean energy projects. CERTs empowers communities and their members to adopt energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy technologies and practices for their homes, businesses, and local institutions.
Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Center (MAWRC)
In addition to sponsoring the drinking water at this year’s AURI tent, the MAWRC is a research and education organization comprised of the primary farm organizations in Minnesota, working together to identify and address water issues. Since its inception in 2008, MAWRC programs have evolved in response to constantly evolving water concerns, but the one constant is its commitment to providing useful information to Minnesota farmers
and ranchers.
Redhead Creamery
While this AURI client wasn’t able to attend in person, it did send artisan cheese curds for people to sample. The creamery, which is based in Brooten, Minnesota, produces a wonderful cheddar cheese—a point of pride for AURI since it worked with and provided cost-sharing assistance for scale-up and product development, pre-engineering related costs, and product analysis and nutritional fact labels.
