Cold Steppe

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Cold Steppe Wins Groundbreaker of the Year at the 2026 International Biomass Conference & Expo

  • 2026 International Biomass Conference
  • biomass-to-energy Arkansas
  • rice hull biochar
  • service-disabled veteran-owned
Attendees at a general session of the International Biomass Conference & Expo, the event name projected on the wall

TL;DR

Cold Steppe Inc., the Stuttgart, Arkansas biochar and biomass-energy startup, received the Groundbreaker of the Year Award at the 2026 International Biomass Conference & Expo in Nashville, Tennessee (March 31–April 2, 2026). The award - presented by BBI International and Biomass Magazine - recognized the company for building and commissioning its commercial-scale biomass-to-energy facility in just 169 days, turning local rice hulls into renewable energy and durable biochar.

Quick facts

The award

At the 2026 International Biomass Conference & Expo, BBI International and Biomass Magazine named Cold Steppe Inc. the Groundbreaker of the Year - an award that recognizes a company reaching the commercial-scale milestone that most bioenergy projects never do. Cold Steppe was honored alongside the conference's other 2026 award recipients, including Alicia Gibson, who received the inaugural Women in Biomass Award, and Rudi Roeslein.

The Groundbreaker award specifically recognized Cold Steppe's rapid development and deployment of its Stuttgart facility - a project the judges highlighted as a scalable, repeatable model for biomass-to-energy infrastructure.

The facility

The Stuttgart plant converts agricultural residues - primarily rice hulls - into renewable energy and durable biochar. It pairs continuous pyrolysis with waste-heat recovery and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system to generate power from the heat the process produces. The roughly $40 million facility was completed and commissioned in 169 days and was built to begin production in the first quarter of 2026, with early output aimed at getting biochar to farmers ahead of spring planting.

Why it matters: a hyperlocal model

The project's defining idea is keeping the supply chain tight. Stuttgart sits in the heart of Arkansas rice country, near two of the largest rice mills in the U.S., so the rice hulls that feed the plant travel only about a mile from mill to facility - and the finished biochar goes back out to nearby farms. "We wanted this effort to be hyperlocal," Freniere told Farm Progress, pointing to the shipping costs that long-distance trucking adds to biochar for growers. By collapsing that distance, Cold Steppe aims to make biochar affordable for Delta-region farmers while sequestering carbon and improving local soil health.

The founders

Cold Steppe was co-founded by Kevin Crow (CEO) and Matthew Freniere (COO), who met as students at North Carolina State University and later served together on the same submarine in the U.S. Navy. The company is an SBA-certified service-disabled veteran-owned small business - a background the founders credit for the operational discipline behind the facility's fast buildout.

Local partnerships

The award caps a period of growing local engagement for Cold Steppe. The company partners with FarmRaise to help farmers navigate USDA conservation contracts, and it holds a seat on the Arkansas State Technical Committee, which helps shape agricultural and natural-resource management across the state.

About Cold Steppe

Cold Steppe Inc. is a service-disabled veteran-owned company based in Stuttgart, Arkansas that turns underused agricultural biomass into renewable energy and biochar. Learn more on the About page.

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