从圣. 可以买滚球的正规平台, Gabe Price '16 has launched an award-winning start-up, 申请专利, 正在申请美国农业部的拨款, and innovating new ways to reduce waste and boost soil quality and crop yields.
Price also is building on his Ambrosian education, which included a 生物学学士学位 二级学位 哲学. 他正在攻读生态学博士学位, Evolution and Conservation Biology (PEEC) program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He and his long-time friend, Darrel Teague, operate 认真的地球农业 (formerly known as Agrimy Ag) and developed a patent-pending bioreactor that uses earthworms and microbes to convert manure, 农作物残渣和农业废弃物转化为肥料.
The bioreactor is a self-contained six-foot cube that is placed on-site at small-scale farms. "The waste goes into it and the reactor operates independently. 它负责所有的处理. 大约两个月后, it converts all the waste into sustainable fertilizer that we can package and sell on behalf of the farmer,普莱斯说.
认真的地球农业 sells the fertilizer, soil-enriching earthworm castings and potting soil 在线 and at Teske Pet and Garden stores in the Quad Cities.
4月, the company garnered third place in the COZAD New Venture Competition hosted by the University of Illinois Technology Entrepreneur Center and the company was recognized with the Edwin Moore Agricultural Innovation Award.
Price said they are hoping to secure a USDA grant to continue research and development. "There is a lot we don't understand about how microbes in earthworms help break down waste and leave behind this valuable product people can use in gardens,他说.
"Now we are working to isolate microbes and use them to improve plant growth, prevent plant disease and promote drought resistance. We hope to incorporate what we learn into our products and eventually to sell them for industrial agricultural use, so farmers could spray their fields with a micro blend for extra crop protection,普莱斯说.
He expects it will take four to five years of research and development before they are ready to approach the agricultural industry with a commercial micro blend product. 与此同时, Earnest Earth is focusing on building its consumer base for the at-home use of biofertilizer and potting mix, 以及改进生物反应器来处理食物垃圾.
普莱斯说，当改进完成时, 可能在未来几个月, large businesses and educational institutions could use the bioreactor to reduce the amount of food waste they send to the landfill and at the same time, 创造增值, 环保的产品.
There is great interest in reducing waste and doing so with the bioreactor Price has developed. He said 认真的地球农业 was contacted by a realtor who wanted to use the technology within an eco-friendly housing development.
Price预计未来会有更广泛的应用. "One of the greatest things about this process is it was designed to eliminate human pathogens and one of our goals is to make it efficient enough to deal with human waste. This could help huge cities redesign their waste management systems to become more self-sustaining and create a product that will boost soil health,他说.
Price said his interest in earthworms was sparked by Biology Department Chair and Associate Professor Amy Blair, PhD, who incorporated her own research into earthworms into ecology lectures. It was also at SAU that he became interested in soil microbes and plants, and participated in 本科研究.
SAU was the only university to which Price applied, 不仅仅是因为他现在的妻子, Suzanne (Christensen) Price '15, 参加, but also because of the strong preparation he would get for medical school, 他当时的目标是什么.
Adding philosophy as a second degree was a great choice, he said. "I believe one reason I got into the PhD program at the University of Illinois was my philosophy degree. It has helped me create strong arguments for developing experiments, to make sure they have integrity and will stand up,他说.
"Everyone I interacted with at SAU was phenomenal,他说. "I had a lot of support, and a lot of people cared about me. It made going there very easy and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made."
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