Modesto site selected for bioeconomy innovation campus. Published: Jun 1, 2026, 11:26 PM Officials with BEAM Circular announced at its Biocatalyst Industry & Innovation Exchange on Thursday, May 21 that it has selected a site in Modesto's Beard Industrial District for the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus - a first-of-its-kind facility designed to accelerate development of circular bioeconomy technologies and enable the growth of biomanufacturing across California's Central Valley and beyond. The Campus will provide shared pilot and demonstration facilities, serving as a center of excellence for zero-waste biomanufacturing. The multi-tenant Campus will help companies bridge the gap between research and commercial manufacturing through shared infrastructure, technical resources, and commercialization support. The Campus will also feature a community visitor center and support student field trips, workforce training, and a wide range of innovation activities and community partnerships. The project is expected to directly create 100 to 140 permanent jobs at full operation, along with significant construction employment opportunities. More broadly, the Campus is designed to catalyze long-term regional economic growth by attracting biomanufacturing companies, strengthening domestic supply chains, and helping agricultural industries and rural communities unlock new value from underutilized biomass resources such as nut shells, winery byproducts, orchard wood waste, forestry residues, and food processing sidestreams. "The selection of a site for the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus marks a major milestone for our region and for the future of sustainable manufacturing in California," said Karen Warner, CEO of BEAM Circular. "This Campus is about building the infrastructure needed to help breakthrough bioproduct technologies move from concept to market - while creating quality jobs, supporting rural economies, and cementing the Central Valley's role as a leader in the growing global bioeconomy." The project is advancing in collaboration with more than 100 cross-sector partners through the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Collaborative (CBIO Collaborative), which is coordinated by BEAM Circular alongside Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Merced, the Manufacturers Council of the Central Valley, and WE Will!, the North San Joaquin Valley's K16 Regional Collaborative, which represents educational institutions across San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced counties. The Campus will connect research institutions, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, workforce partners, and local communities across a shared innovation ecosystem focused on scaling technologies that convert bio-based inputs into renewable fuels, sustainable materials, chemicals, food ingredients, and other high-value products. The Innovation Campus will specialize in scaling "circular" solutions that reduce waste and pollution, while creating new revenue opportunities for local farmers and communities. BEAM Circular has secured $17 million for the first phase of Campus development, including $8 million through the State of California's Budget Act of 2025 (allocated through CalRecycle), $6 million from a California Jobs First grant, $1.8 million from North Valley Thrive, and $1.2 million from Stanislaus County through the American Rescue Plan Act. The estimated $180 million project is designed for phased expansion, with initial services launching in 2026. The Beard Industrial District is located in the center of the North San Joaquin Valley - a tri-county region encompassing Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties, located directly east of the San Francisco Bay Area, west of heavily forested Sierra Nevada Mountains, and in the heart of the most productive agricultural region in the United States. The Modesto site strategically positions the Innovation Campus to bridge California's world-leading hubs for technology innovation, agricultural production, and large-scale food manufacturing. BEAM Circular launched a strategic planning and site assessment process for the Innovation Campus in early 2023, catalyzed by seed funding from Stanislaus County. The planning process included preliminary engineering and project chartering, market analysis and user interviews, community engagement activities, a regional industrial land inventory study, and a comprehensive site search that included an open call for site proposals from local municipalities. Candidate sites were evaluated against multiple technical, environmental, workforce, and community criteria, including utility capacity, transportation access, workforce accessibility, proximity to agricultural activities, zoning, environmental considerations, community integration opportunities, and expansion potential. The Beard Industrial District in Modesto emerged as the preferred location for the Campus, meeting or exceeding requirements across all categories assessed. Final site confirmation remains contingent on completion of due diligence and execution of a site agreement. The Modesto selection reinforces the North San Joaquin Valley's emergence as a national leader in the circular bioeconomy. The region was designated California's first Certified Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Zone and has become a strategic hub for biomanufacturing due to its abundant agricultural resources, strong logistics infrastructure, and growing network of industry, research, workforce, and community partners. Companies and organizations interested in becoming tenants or users of Innovation Campus services can complete a Campus interest form to connect with the BEAM Circular team at: www.beamcircular.org/campus.

Taqueria expands, plans for bioindustry hub, pesticide concerns: Today's top stories. By Edited by Carlos Virgen based on original reporting by Bee journalists and summarized using AI. May 18, 2026 7:00 PM Gift Article Stanislaus County news ranged from rapid restaurant growth to a major bioindustry investment, parental concerns over pesticide spraying and dramatic high school baseball semifinals. Here's a quick look at the day's top headlines. Here are today's must-reads: * Tequileros Taqueria is opening a second Stanislaus County location at 3216 W. Monte Vista Ave. in Turlock, growing from a single Lodi taco truck in 2021 to 18 trucks and restaurants between Roseville and Fullerton, according to the Modesto Bee. * BEAM Circular and its partners have secured $17 million in state and county funding for the first phase of a large-scale bioindustry testing hub in the Beard Industrial District near southeast Modesto, per the Modesto Bee. * California prohibits agricultural pesticide applications within a quarter mile of schools on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but cities are largely exempt from those restrictions and notification requirements when spraying adjacent public property. * Central Catholic and Ripon Christian each rallied from Game 1 losses to win their Sac-Joaquin Section baseball semifinal series, with Central Catholic invoking the 10-run rule in both Games 2 and 3 against Del Campo, as reported by the Modesto Bee. This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, Bee journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media's AI policy.

Leadership award presented to BEAM Circular at symposium. Published: May 13, 2026, 10:12 PM BEAM Circular, a nonprofit hub for circular bioeconomy innovation and industrial biomanufacturing scale-up in California's Central Valley, was recognized this week with the 2026 Bioeconomy Leadership Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. The award was presented in New Orleans, LA at the 48th Annual Symposium on Biomaterials, Fuels and Chemicals (SBFC), a premier gathering of researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders advancing the science and commercialization of bio-based products. The Bioeconomy Leadership Award recognizes an organization that has demonstrated exceptional vision, innovation, and impact in accelerating the bioeconomy. The award honors excellence in enabling and commercializing biomass conversion technologies and is uniquely conferred on organizations - rather than individuals - to highlight the critical role of institutional leadership in scaling the bio-based economy. BEAM was selected for its leadership in convening multi-sector partners across industry, academia, government, and community to transform agricultural residues, food processing byproducts, and organic waste into valuable bio-based products - strengthening supply chains and building more resilient regional economies in one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. "We are honored to be recognized with the Bioeconomy Leadership Award," said Karen Warner, CEO of BEAM Circular. "Our community is building the infrastructure to turn organic waste into opportunity - powering a more resilient and inclusive economy, protecting our environment, and creating a new generation of green jobs. We are grateful to accept this award on behalf of our broad coalition of partners working to advance the circular bioeconomy sector in our region." Founded in 2023 and anchored in the North San Joaquin Valley - a tri-county region of 1.6 million people encompassing Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties - BEAM Circular operates as an "action tank," advancing breakthrough technologies through a portfolio of public-private projects, collaborative programs, and targeted investments. The organization co-leads the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Collaborative (CBIO Collaborative), a coalition of over 180 public and private partners coordinated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Merced, the Manufacturers Council of the Central Valley, and WE Will!, the North San Joaquin Valley's K16 Regional Collaborative. Among BEAM's flagship initiatives is the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus, a state-of-the-art scale-up facility designed to scale breakthrough technologies that convert agricultural byproducts, food waste, and forestry residues into renewable energy, sustainable materials, and other valuable products. By addressing the "valley of death" in biotechnology - the gap between research and commercial manufacturing - the facility will provide innovators and businesses with the resources needed to bring promising bio-based products to market and create good jobs in local communities. The award was accepted at SBFC by Cynthia Ni, Director of Innovation Programs at BEAM Circular. Previous recipients of the Bioeconomy Leadership Award include LanzaTech, ICM, POET, DSM, Novozymes, Genomatica, and DuPont Industrial Biosciences.