BATHGATE, N.D. and NEW YORK — Dakota Valley Growers (DVG), a cattle feeder developing a sustainable beef cattle feeding operation near Bathgate, North Dakota, and Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc. (OTC QB: BNET), a leader in advanced livestock waste treatment technology and premium sustainable beef, announced that DVG has been awarded a grant from North Dakota’s Agricultural Products Utilization Commission to cover certain initial project development costs.
The Commission awarded Dakota Valley Growers $128,500 to cover 75 percent of initial engineering, design, permitting, and legal work associated with developing the DVG project. Engineering teams have now been engaged by DVG and Bion and have begun design work to support conditional use permit applications. The applications are expected to be submitted within two months, at which time a public hearing will be scheduled for soon after.
The Ag Products Utilization Commission (APUC), a division of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, awards grants designed to encourage the creation of jobs and industry or provide a new outlet for products within the agricultural economy of North Dakota. Expanding the capacity of Dakota Valley Growers will generate a significant increase in local demand for corn and other grains, as well as agricultural residues such as wet distiller grains, soybean meal, and sugar beet pulp.
The DVG project will provide several additional benefits to North Dakota and ND agriculture, including a market for local feeder calves and a reputation for innovation and producing the most sustainable beef available today. Further, DVG will produce local, low-carbon and/or organic nitrogen fertilizers with substantially less environmental impact than synthetics, as well as surplus renewable energy from biogas and solar electric production. Dakota Valley Growers and Bion (as a prime partner) anticipate additional grants, incentives, and resources will become available to support DVG’s expansion and transition to production of sustainable beef, fertilizers, and energy.
Russell Edgar, founder of Dakota Valley Growers, said, “We are excited to see things moving forward and pleased that the Ag Products Utilization Commission also recognized this as an opportunity, not just for DVG, but for North Dakota agriculture as a whole. We’d like to thank the North Dakota Livestock Alliance for their help on this and we anticipate working with other state agencies and stakeholders to support this project and the production of premium finished beef right here in North Dakota.”
Bill O’Neill, Bion’s CEO, said, “We look forward to working with Dakota Valley Growers to develop a sustainable beef production facility in North Dakota. The weather in North Dakota presents unique challenges to feeding cattle outdoors that we believe will highlight the advantages of barns coupled with state-of-the-art waste treatment and resource recovery technology. We very much appreciate the ‘can do’ attitude we have met there, as well as the level of interest and support shown by various ag stakeholders and state agencies.”
About Dakota Valley Growers: DVG is a 6th generation family owned and operated farming and cattle feeding operation located in the Red River Valley in northeast North Dakota, near Bathgate. The farm was established in 1879; the Edgar family now farms 4,200 acres to produce corn, alfalfa, grass hay, beans, and barley. They have produced and fed cattle for 20 years. For more, see DVG’s website at https://dakotavalleygrowers.com.
About Bion: Bion’s patented 3rd generation technology (Gen3Tech) dramatically reduces the environmental impacts of large-scale livestock production, increases resource efficiencies, and delivers a verified sustainable product. The platform prevents pollution of air, water, and soil, while recovering low-carbon Climate Smart and organic fertilizer products and renewable energy. Bion is focused on developing clean state-of-the-art cattle feeding operations to produce premium beef with a sustainable brand certified by the USDA. For more, see Bion’s website at https://bionenviro.com.
This material includes forward-looking statements based on management’s current reasonable business expectations. In this document, the words ‘will’, ‘expected (to)’, and similar expressions identify certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made in reliance on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, Section 27A of the Securities act of 1933, as amended. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from expected outcomes.