Utilize Extracted DDGs (Invive) for weed control and enhanced plant growth in horticultural applications.

Ethanol production is a rapidly growing industry in the United States where corn is the principal feedstock. Dried distiller grains (DDGs) are a co-product of the dry milling process, which currently accounts for approximately 75 percent of the domestic ethanol production. The production of DDGs in the U.S. was 7.3 million tons in 2004 and is expected to increase to over 16 million tons by 2012. DDGs are currently used almost exclusively as animal feed, therefore, finding alternative uses for DDGs, with greater profit potential are needed as DDGs supply increases. The problem is the DDGs contain an estimated 10% fatty oils that causes the byproduct to go rancid if not used in a relatively short time period. The opportunity is to utilize the by-product from the DDGs which could become a new standard in our horticultural industry for organic weed control and enhanced plant growth with an organic product. This organic based product has the added benefit of being plant based to avoid all the problems associated with manure based products. And, with sky rocketing fertilizer prices make this organic product more cost effective everyday just based on its fertilizer value. The potential for this product is very broad in a market that is hungry for organic based products. And the organic demand is increasing from the home gardener to golf courses to organic farming.