Project Number: 3620-41000-158-08
Project Type: General Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jan 02, 2013
End Date: Jun 30, 2016

Objective:
Align participant and stakeholder interests along the supply chain to promote effective development of partnerships for creating new rural economic development opportunities centered on hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) fuel production. Continually expand business networks through meetings with grower and commodity organizations, rural community, industry, and financial leaders who could contribute to the successful resourcing of biofuel chains.

Approach:
Investors are required at each link in the value chain. Validation and commercialization capital resources will allow us to use press releases, web announcements, and seminar presentations to add key links to the value chain. Regional economic developers can be a key link in the value chain, as they have extensive networks. Using the methodology described in Sub-objective 6d, we can provide the networks access to technologies that help them do their work better. There is a great deal of capital in the rural plains, particularly with the generational transfer of wealth. Linkages with rural communities can provide the opportunity to invest in different stages and links in the value chain, decreasing dependence on governmental sources. As the project consultants identify potential collaborators, we will have discussions with industry thought leaders, including fuel companies, financiers, technology providers, and biofuel procurement leaders. They will help identify ways to ensure that oilseed crops are seamlessly adopted into the biofuels space and that projects are developed to ensure private lender participation. We will use N-Vivo software to analyze the content of the meetings and quantify the emergent themes.