BDN article focuses on developer’s work with UMaine to produce natural drinking straws

The Bangor Daily News reported University of Maine’s sustainable agriculture program is growing and studying winter rye, red fife wheat, triticale — a cross between wheat and rye — and other grains to increase local, organic bread-grain production. The research also will help Bangor native Alex Bennett, who is developing a drinking straw made from the stalks of the grain plants. He is selling straws grown and harvested in Germany and is preparing for his first Maine harvest, according to the article. Ellen Mallory, a professor with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and in the School of Food and Agriculture who heads the sustainable agriculture program, said UMaine researchers already are studying 10 varieties of wheat and other grains to see how they handle the Maine climate, so adding extra data points for Bennett was easy to accomplish — especially because he’s looking to change the discarded straw into a “value added product,” the article states. The Maine Public Broadcasting Network and Sun Journal also published the report.