Nov. 19--WILTON -- A local family with deep roots in the fiddleheads market is interested in expanding into biodiesel fuel production.

The family that has owned the W.S. Wells & Son cannery since 1896 is eyeing a town-owned building to increase its operation.

Michael Wells, of Wilton, said Wednesday that the fresh fiddleheads market remains strong, and each spring the business ships cases of the edible young ostrich fern fronds across the country to wholesalers, food retailers and restaurants.

The company also sells and ships dry beans under the Belle of Maine label, while Wells' cousin Adrian "Butch" Wells raises red deer for meat production.

Belle of Maine products once included canned dandelion greens, beets, beans and pickles. Those products have gone by the wayside in recent years.

"We don't do much fiddlehead canning, and the dandelion greens market has pretty much dried up," Michael Wells said.

Where the family sees opportunity is in biodiesel -- a clean-burning, alternative fuel produced from domestic renewable resources such as soybeans or rapeseed, used to make canola oil.

Wells' proposal, presented to Wilton selectmen this week, is to buy or lease the former primary school at 24 School St. and use it for cold storage of food products and fuel production. He said the company's current biodiesel operation is set up in a small section of a company warehouse, and it needs more room.

He said he has been researching rapeseed and biodiesel for two years. The long-range plan is to look for fallow fields and work with local farmers to raise the plants and use the high-oil and high-protein seed to produce animal feed, vegetable oil and fuel. Rapeseed, with its distinctive yellow flower, is growing extensively around the world.

The Wellses now pick up used vegetable oil from restaurants and food service businesses. They convert that oil to fuel to power the farm's tractors. The oil also can be mixed with petroleum products in cars, generators and skidders.

"We would like to see locally grown vegetables grown with locally produced fuel," he said.

He said the benefits of biodiesel are that it is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic and produced without noise or pollution.

The town has been trying to sell the old primary school for two years. It originally was listed at $249,000, which was reduced earlier this year to $149,000. Selectmen have said they would entertain any offer.

Two local counselors have offered $100,000 since then to convert it into an alternative school. However, selectmen have been cool to the idea because the project would rely on federal grants; the town would have to take the building off the market for a year until the grant program winners were announced.

Another proposal that would have converted it to affordable apartments was opposed by residents and has been withdrawn.

Members of the neighborhood have formed an association with the goal of assisting the town in the property's development. They are working on completing an application for tax-exempt status, which could make them eligible for grants, spokesman Richard Dupuis said.

In a related discussion, Town Manager Rhoda Irish said she received an estimate of $50,000 to demolish the building and remove asbestos material. She also looked into a real estate auction. Selectmen tabled both discussions until more information was available on the two proposals.

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