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Welcome to the Marketing Minute, highlighting the
marketing and development activities of the
Minnesota Department of Agriculture |
Frederickson helps break ground
for isobutanol plant
Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson along with MDA marketing staff members Ralph Groschen and Christina Connelly traveled to Luverne Tuesday to attend the groundbreaking celebration for the world's first commercial isobutanol plant. Gevo, a Colorado-based company, purchased the Agri-Energy ethanol plant and is retrofitting it to produce isobutanol from local corn. Company officials project the plant will be able to produce about 18 million gallons of isobutanol per year when operations begin next year.
Isobutanol, much like ethanol, can be produced by fermentation from any sugar. It can be used as a gasoline additive, a solvet or reagent in chemical processes, and as jet fuel.
"We're proud to see Minnesota continue to lead the way in renewable fuels," said Connelly, MDA's bioenergy specialist. "We were pioneers in first-generation ethanol and biodiesel; now we're paving the way to next generation fuels as well."
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MDA hosts MN companies at NRA show in Chicago
"We were impressed!" That's the reaction from seven Minnesota companies exhibiting at the 92nd Annual National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago. More than 58,000 attendees had the opportunity to sample their way through 515,000 square feet of food and beverages.
MDA hosted a Minnesota pavilion at the show featuring products from Lettieri's Foods, Compart Family Farms, Captain Ken's, WW Johnson Meat Company, Rochester Meat Company, Red River Valley Potatoes and Six Point Berkshire.
Lettieri's Foods was exhibiting at NRA for the first time according to company spokesman Jason Gaddes. "We thought the show was great and the traffic was strong and fairly steady every day. We made a lot of contacts and have many solid leads to follow up on."
The 2011 NRA Show brought over 1,800 exhibitors and show officials were excited to report that both attendance and exhibitor counts were up this year after a couple of years of downward trends.
The NRA Show is the leading restaurant and hospitality industry trade show in the Western Hemisphere. |
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AG STATS
June is Dairy Month. Dairy is the 2nd largest ag business in Minnesota contributing more than $11 billion in economic impact to our state. |
MDA to host Midwest Buyers Mission
Minnesota food and agriculture firms have a great opportunity to meet buyers from several new export markets at an upcoming buyers mission. MDA and Food Export Midwest will host the event July 26 in Minneapolis.
"We're excited to have buyers from Russia, Algeria, Egypt and Palestine," said MDA marketing specialist Brian Erickson."They're seeking imports of a variety of food products including snacks, beverages, chocolates, wine and frozen foods."
Cost to attend the buyers mission is $150. Registration deadline is July 11.
Companies interested in attending the event should contact Brian Erickson. |
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