Tom Smude News Today

This project is based on Kauaʻi, where the Maui-based Pacific Biodiesel last year began supplying its biodiesel to KIUC as a source of renewable energy supporting the Kauaʻi utility’s accelerated pathway to 100% renewable electricity production by 2033, more than a decade earlier than the State of Hawaiʻi’s mandated timeline of 2045.

Minnesotas future lies in its innovative workers and entrepreneurs and an energy industry thats increasingly local, Neal St. Anthony writes as he retires after 40 years at the Star Tribune.

Jenni and Tom Smude pivoted about 15 years ago after nearly losing their farm. Now, they have diversified and grown their primary sunflower oil business, plus beef and most recently wood products.

An informal gathering billed as a "listening session" by organizers found legislative agriculture leaders seated in a Pierz machine shop, hearing directly from farmers from across the state.

Ukraine and Russia produce roughly half of the worlds annual crop of sunflowers. Without their usual harvest, some sunflower farmers in the Dakotas and Minnesota see record-breaking prices.