Perdue AgriBusiness to provide barley for Hopewell ethanol plant

The Henrico County-based company that is building an ethanol plant in Hopewell has turned to Perdue AgriBusiness as a source of grain for the refinery.

Perdue is creating a contracting program for local farmers to grow barley for the Appomattox Bio Energy plant, Osage Bio Energy President and CEO Craig Shealy said yesterday.

The plant will be the first of its kind in Virginia and the first barley-based biofuels plant on the East Coast.

Osage will need about 30 million bushels of barley to produce 65 million gallons of the alternative fuel annually. The ethanol would be distributed in local markets and used in gasoline fuel blends.

The plant also will produce up to 170,000 tons of barley protein meal and 50,000 tons of fuel pellets.

Shealy said the partnership with Perdue shows that the region is ready to meet the plant's need for barley. He said Osage is committed to obtaining the grain from within 100 miles of the facility.

Perdue is already a leading business in sourcing, handling and contracting grains and will directly contract with the local growers and encourage local barley production. Perdue also will store the grain for Osage.

"We are excited to play a role in building the local barley market, and look forward to working with the farming community to provide Osage Bio Energy with the barley it needs to create both fuel and livestock feed," Dick Willey, president of Perdue AgriBusiness, said in a statement.

Local growers have an opportunity to plant winter crops in fields that might otherwise not be used, Shealy said.

"This is a very significant economic opportunity," he said, noting that 30 million bushels of grain would mean between $90 to $100 million a year at the current grain price.

The $160 million plant near downtown Hopewell is on track to open in June , Shealy said.

The facility will bring about 50 full-time jobs and $2 million in tax revenue annually to the industrial city of 23,000 residents.

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .