Andreas Bommarius (left) is co-director of Georgia Tech's Center for a Renewables-Based Economy From Wood and Chris Gaffney is Managing director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding $7.4 million in disaster supplemental funding to the Resilient Growth Through Enabling Next Generation Agriculture (ReGEN Ag) coalition.
ATLANTA — Initiated and overseen by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²), ReGEN Ag is a collaboration of Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) and Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL). Together, the groups will help South Georgia's timber and agriculture producers recover from 2024’s Hurricane Helene and strengthen the region’s resilience to future disasters.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “Hurricane Helene left Georgia growers with damaged timber and exposed weaknesses in their supply chains. With this federal funding, backed by $24 million in private investment, Georgia Tech is exploring how to turn that timber into valuable ag-nutrients and testing ways to keep supply chains moving even when storms hit.”
The ReGEN Ag project funding is part of a larger initiative, the EDA Fiscal Year 2025 Disaster Supplemental Grant Program. The ReGEN Ag award supports two initiatives that will be implemented over an 18-month period.
Resilient Routes, headed by SCL, will incorporate modeling with live mapping of critical infrastructure and routes to create cooperative logistics hubs. “For decades, SCL has led applied supply chain research that solves real problems for industry,” said SCL Managing Director Chris Gaffney. “Partnering with RBI on ReGEN Ag lets us put that experience to work for Georgia's forestry sector, building cooperative logistics that connect South Georgia's timber to new, higher-value products and markets.”
ReWOOD, led by the RBI-associated Center for a Renewables-Based Economy From Wood (ReWOOD) aims to turn low-grade timber and wood waste into value-added chemicals and bioproducts. “The ReWOOD initiative builds on RBI’s tremendous strength in wood-based products to create additional revenue sources for Georgia’s forestry industry by developing processes and products to benefit human and animal health and well-being, including new materials, animal feed, care products, and many other applications,” said Andreas Bommarius, ReWOOD co-director.
Timber and its related industries play a significant role in Georgia’s economy. According to the Georgia Forestry Association, the sector contributes $41.3 billion a year to the state’s economy and supports nearly 144,000 direct and indirect jobs.
EI² Vice President David Bridges said the ReGEN Ag project complements the unit’s broader commitment to supporting socioeconomic development across the entirety of Georgia.
“When EI² conducted a listening tour of the state, we heard specifically from timber industry owners and companies in South Georgia about the need for finding and developing value-added products,” Bridges said. “This funding provides a chance to explore some of those pathways, while building resilience and boosting prosperity in the southern part of the state.”
The award also allows Georgia Tech to work closely with two of its educational partners, South Georgia State College and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, to build workforce opportunities in forestry, agriculture, biomanufacturing, and supply chain management.
“EDA’s investment, along with significant private industry and local partner commitments, gives us a real opportunity to help rural communities recover from storms and grow stronger,” said Betsy McGriff, EI2program manager. “We’re grateful to EDA and to the partners across South Georgia who came together to make this possible, and we’re excited to get started.”