Andrew Plant, an educator from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, visited Houlton Rotary on December 20th. Andrew has spent the past two years researching how perennial grasses and straw left from grain rotations can be turned into pellet fuel. His research has shown that these low-maintenance and waste crops developed on marginal or fallow farmland in Central and Northern Maine can be compressed into fuel pellets and used as an energy source. With grass pellets as a viable biofuel, local farmers have a new cash crop that does not displace current food production. Moreover, Mainers have additional means produced in our own backyards to reduce energy costs. Andrew and Michael Bilodeau, director of UMaine’s Process Development Center, are carrying out a biomass engineered fuel project using $1.65 million provided by the Maine Technology Asset Fund. Over the next four years, the project will fully examine the development and commercialization of grass pellets.