Industrial Agricultural Products Center
Date of this Version
1993
Abstract
Significant progress has been made toward the goals of the Center. Activities have centered on the identification of opportunities in terms of new industrial uses of agricultural commodities. Assistance has been provided to UNL faculty to procure funding research in the respective areas. In other cases, specific faculty positions have been identified. Subsequent hirings have built a strong group of faculty affiliates.
The main emphasis in the Center has been research on developing new processes and products. A fairly comprehensive list of projects funded and the faculty involved are listed in a subsequent section. Two strategic planning sessions have been held to assist with identification of research opportunities of particular significance to Nebraska's agricultural production. The proceedings of the two "Great Plains Stratetic Planning Consortia" are given in a subsequent section.
At the same time and with very limited staff support, we have been providing technical, marketing and business assistance to individuals and businesses. As there is limited industrial activity in this area in Nebraska, one would not expect a lot of requests for assistance. As new products are developed, we hope the level of industrial activity will increase in Nebraska to capture our share of the benefits of value-added processing of agricultural commodities.