Al Heuton talks ag research with the County Commission
7/7/11
by Perry Miller
The Brookings County Commission passes a resolution in support of
an "Agricultural Technology Center for Rural Enterprise."
The support will help the Brookings Economic Development Corporation
in their pursuit of a federal grant.
BEDC Director Al Heuton says it all about commercializing ag research
and working with partners to bring businesses to rural areas. He says the
idea is to take SDSU research and convert it into full business plans that
people could use to start businesses.
He says Friday is the deadline to apply for the latest round of U.S.
Department of Commerce Grants. Heuton says if they do not get the
application in this week, it will be questionable if they would qualify.
He says they have to demonstrate a certain number of job losses over the
last 12 months and if they were to wait until September, they probably
wouldn't be able to make that happen.
It would include a 40,000 square foot building -- A Business Commercialization
Center. County Commissioner Don Larson has a concern. He says the county
and city have invested a lot of money at the Innovation Campus and now we're
looking at another research facility. He says there needs to be much more
conversation with the Growth Partnership (which oversees the Innovation
Campus) to try and accommodate these things.
Heuton says they're looking at a simple, metal building. That's not allowed
at the innovation campus and it would be difficult to make it cash flow if they
met the research park's qualifications. He says Larson's point on having further
discussions with the Growth Partnership is well taken.
The Commission ended up voting 5-0 to approve the resolution of support.
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