Area a natural for agricultural biotechnology

Agricenter seen as potential player in burgeoning biofuel research

The Commercial Appeal
May 25, 2007
By Daniel Connolly

The head of a group that's playing a leading role in building up science-based industry in Memphis says the city is in a strong position to develop better plant-based fuels and other technologies related to agriculture.

Steve Bares is head of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, a nonprofit organization that's playing a leading role in building a $450 million research park on the site of the old Baptist Memorial Hospital.

That research park is meant to foster development of drugs and new orthopedic medical devices. But Bares said Memphis should also take advantage of its strengths in agriculture as it looks to expand its research base.

"This region has the right to exist in the agricultural bioscience area," he said.

The area has fertile land, capable farmers, a good transportation system and a strong chemical business marked by firms like Helena Chemical and Buckman Laboratories, he said.

All these would be advantages in developing better biofuels and would also help in developing new plastics or fibers, he said.

"That's really where the agricultural biotechnology revolution is going," he said.

Bares said regional planning to develop the sector remains at the early stages.

As planning advances, one likely player will be Agricenter International, a nonprofit organization in East Memphis that conducts crop research and educational programs on more than 1,000 acres.

Bares is a member of the Agricenter board, and the Agricenter's president, John Charles Wilson, said the institute will be important in the future.

"We think we've got a very important role in it and we hope to be able to develop that area," Wilson said.

He said the organization might one day help farmers learn how to grow switchgrass or other plants for use in biologically-based fuels and to transport the crops to market.

The Agricenter has what it takes to do high-quality research, said Bud Hughes, who is a member of the organization's board and runs the Collierville office of Verdant Partners LLC, an Illinois-based investment banking and consulting group that works with agribusinesses.

"We've been doing it for years," he said. "We work with 30 different cooperator groups that are sort of a who's who in the industry."

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296