The money comes from Chevron. U-C Davis’ vice chancellor for research – Barry Klein – says they’ll use it to develop alternative fuels.

"What we’re looking at is ways to utilize things that normally would be thrown away like grass clippings, waste products, rice straw and actually extracting chemical components from them that can be used as fuel for transportation."

Klein says California farmers could be a major source of raw material for new bio-fuels. The goal is to lower air pollution and reduce US dependency on foreign oil supplies.