Agricultural Strategy

Southeastern Indiana Agricultural Center of Technology (SEIACT)
Click her to view the Strategic Plan presentation (pdf)

Vision and Strategic Plan

The Rush County Agricultural Roundtable, through strategic planning and development sessions, has identified a primary set of four initiatives to be integrated into the Southeastern Indiana Agricultural Center of Technology.  The primary “Four Star Initiatives” are as follows:

Biofuels

The region is one of the top areas of the state in grain and oilseed production. There is a strong highway and rail system within the region to ship in raw commodities and ship out finished product to the East, Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Southeast areas. Universities and industry will be utilized to insure the newest technologies are used for peak production efficiencies. The goals include development of an Ethanol plant in Rush County and a BioDiesel plant within a 20 mile radius of the core of the Center.

Confined Livestock Operations

New livestock operations will be located in the region, building on the many existing confinement operations. All expansion will be required to be of environmentally sound design and construction. University research and technology will be fully utilized to control and attempt to eliminate waste and odor issues. All waste products will be viewed as assets to the operation.

Food Processing

The region has an abundance of raw agricultural commodities. These will increase with the expansion of livestock operations in the region. The availability of raw commodities and the transportation system makes locating food processing operations in the region very logical.

Research and Development

Rush County and the Southeastern Indiana Agricultural Center of Technology,  working jointly with Purdue University, Ball State University, and others, will house a state of the art Research and Development facility focusing on agricultural technology, such as, but not limited to:

• Methane Gases - utilization as a renewable fuel.
• Stabilization of ammonia in livestock waste products, air quality control.
• By-product utilization and development from Ethanol and BioDiesel, including cutting edge research for highly profitable utilization of Carbon Dioxide, DDG and SBM.
• Feasibility of utilization of other natural biomass components into renewable fuels.
• Development of pharmaceutical, industrial, and food quality by-products.

We, as a committee, feel that the four identified areas are a strategic fit for Rush County and the Southeastern Indiana region. Implementation and broadening the understanding of these strategies will make this region’s Center THE MODEL for environmentally sound agricultural development.