Southeast receives USDA funds to help rice cultivation, small businesses

Two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants for Southeast Missouri State University and the university's Missouri Innovation Corp. -- one for $100,000 and the other for $1 million -- were announced Wednesday.

The university received a Rural Business Enterprise Grant of $100,000 and the Missouri Innovation Corp. was awarded an Intermediary Relending Program award of $1 million, a USDA news release said.

The funds awarded to Southeast will go toward building a greenhouse in Malden, Mo., for rice breeding research, and the Missouri Innovation Corp.'s Rural Development award will be used to establish a revolving loan fund, the release said. The loan funds will be available to small businesses in Southeast Missouri and are expected to result in the creation of 200 jobs, according to the release.

USDA area director Phyllis Minner made the announcement in the Indian Room of the University Center on campus.

Among the roughly 40 people attending the announcement were Southeast officials, including Southeast president Kenneth Dobbins; James Stapleton, executive director of the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast and associate professor of management in the Harrison College of Business; and Mike Aide, chairman of the department of agriculture; along with state Sen. Wayne Wallingford and Rep. Kathy Swan, representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Jason Smith and U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt.

"Rural Development is charged with the mission of improving the quality of life for rural Americans," Minner said. "These two projects we have today ... [are] a great example of the partnership that we have with the university to achieve this mission, so I want to congratulate the university [the] hard work they put into obtaining these two grants."

According to the release, through new rice breeding techniques, producers may experience improved quality and larger yields during harvest. "These rice production advancements could lead to an improved quality of life through increased agricultural revenue," Rural Development state director Janie Dunning said in the release. Dunning was scheduled to be at Southeast, but did not make it. "The Missouri Innovation Corporation's lending project will infuse much-needed cash into worthwhile projects which will lead to job creation."

Stapleton said the Missouri Innovation Corp. will be able to use the money to help businesses get started.

"I can say that these funds are the kind of funds that go ... [to] work immediately creating jobs. They support businesses that both are in startup or early phases and those businesses that have opportunities to grow in the region," he said. "And working with the commercial lenders in the region, these funds will be used primarily to fill the kinds of gaps that often exist where the commercial lenders have constraints, where they can't fully fund a project for a small or emerging business."

Dobbins said the grants will benefit students and current and future rice growers.

"We take now our ag program south. That is so important because, as you know, 40 percent of all agricultural products in the state of Missouri are either grown or raised in Southeast Missouri ...," Dobbins said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.