Bio Energy offers an interesting opportunity for Agribusiness. Farmers and ranchers can add a profit center to their businesses without a huge capital outlay. With cotton and peanuts being the primary crop for regional farmers, a rotation of soybean and canola can be a good base for an energy crop rotation. The oil from these varieties can be the feedstock for biodiesel processing. Research into other suitable rotations and varieties is being done at the West Florida Research and Education Center. With this research, farmers can form a cooperative vegetable oil company and sell the oil to biodiesel processing companies. Visit the West Florida Research and Education Center’s website for more ideas, or share your ideas with us. The future is waiting for you!

TEAM Applied BioEnergy Program

TEAM has brought together the Santa Rosa County School District, Pensacola Junior College and the University of Florida, West Florida Research and Education Center to develop a curriculum for workforce development. This curriculum will follow State standards and add hands-on experience to a number of BioEnergy subjects. This will show our young people that a college education is closer than they think.