E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., through its Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. subsidiary, announced today it is pledging $1 million to Iowa State University to construct a research facility dedicated to producing cellulosic ethanol on the farm, the first of its kind in the United States.

The efforts will also focus on enhancing production, processing and utilization of feedstocks as biofuel materials.

The center, to be called New Century Farm, will include a facility for research on biomass crop breeding, crop rotation needs and a way to efficiently store and process biomass materials. It will also feature a teaching laboratory for training future scientists and farmers and an extension facility to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental viability of bioenergy.

Funding from DuPont will be allocated from 2008 to 2012. The center will be constructed on ISU’s agricultural, engineering and agronomy research farm west of Ames. Work is expected to begin this fall, with completion of the main facility next year.

“The New Century Farm will research the practical things farmers can do in the future to grow, harvest and store biomass in a sustainable manner,” said Dean Oestreich, a DuPont vice president and general manager and president of Pioneer Hi-Bred. “We’re proud to partner with ISU to create a demonstration farm that will be the first of its kind to integrate both the growing and processing of biomass into biofuels.”



ISU Provost Betsy Hoffman said the facility will help Iowa’s effort to become the center of the nation’s bioeconomy.

Funding for the first year of construction and infrastructure development, estimated at around $19 million, will come mostly from federal and state grants and appropriations. Development of the center will then cost around $2.5 million for the next five years.