CALIFORINA: VIASPACE Inc. announced that the company has signed a contract with Almaden Energy Group, LLC (AEG) of San Jose, California to grow and market Giant King Grass for animal feed. VIASPACE will be paid fees for the propagation and use of Giant King Grass and will also hold an equity position in Almaden Energy Group. VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, will serve on the board of Almaden Energy Group. Principals in AEG have also invested in VIASPACE.
AEG plans to initially grow Giant King Grass in the Imperial Valley of California and sell to customers in California, and also to develop an international export market. The Imperial Valley has the warm weather needed for Giant King Grass and has adequate water resources even in the current California drought. The Imperial Valley produces more than 1.7 million tons of hay each year for the dairy and cattle feeding industries in the US, and also exports animal feed to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.
Giant King Grass is being currently grown in the Imperial Valley at the University of California Desert Research Center in Holtville. Giant King Grass has excellent nutritional value, high yield and high water use efficiency.
Almaden Energy Group CEO, Mr. Haris Basit, stated, “We first met with VIASPACE last year and visited the nursery in California. We conducted several months of due diligence–meeting with the University of California, farmers in the Imperial Valley, dairy and cattle nutritionists, buyers and sellers of animal feed and potential customers. AEG believes that there is an excellent opportunity for a new premium forage crop product based on Giant King Grass. We plan to move aggressively to build up the acreage of Giant King Grass, and to develop the market and supply chain to the customers both in the US and internationally.”
VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, reported, “We are excited to be working with Almaden Energy Group. Over the last several months, we have gotten to know them, and we will work well together. They have seen the results from the University of California which show that Giant King Grass can be harvested every two months in the Imperial Valley for animal feed, with both high yield and high-protein. I will personally assist AEG to ensure that our animal feed project will be successful.”
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin Schewe, commented, “We have been very actively meeting with multiple interested parties regarding our desire to jump start what we perceive to be a significant revenue-producing business line using VIASPACE Giant King Grass for animal feed. I have personally been involved in this selection process and believe that VIASPACE is fortunate to be partnering with Haris Basit and AEG. Mr. Basit has founded four companies in addition to Almaden Energy Group. These companies cover areas as diverse as analog mixed-signal chips, power electronics, high frequency trading data and crypto-currency mining hardware. He currently advises publicly traded technology companies on long-term corporate strategy. He is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with proven capability and experience raising funds from venture capital, private investors, public corporations and government agencies. Having him aligned as an investor in VIASPACE and CEO of this animal feed business partnership gives me great confidence that we are in this animal feed business to succeed.”
