Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel weren’t the only energy alternatives on the program at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. We also had a presentation on wind energy from Mark Willers, Minwind Energy. Mark says Minwind Energy was formed by a group of local farmers and businessmen in southwest Minnesota. He’d like people to understand that the …
Biodiesel Good Fit For Carbon Reduction
The legislative guru for the National Biodiesel Board is Manning Feraci. He was on the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference program. He gave us an update on the current state of the biodiesel industry and the need for stable policies coming out of DC. He says that he sees some real opportunities now as some of the …
Carbon Is New Ag Commodity
I think Joel Velasco, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, had the quote of the day here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He said that “carbon is the new agricultural commodity” and that “our incentive is to produce less of it and get paid for it.” So, grow a crop, sell it and maybe earn some carbon …
How Biofuels Policies Affect Trade
Seth Meyer is with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). He’s also a speaker here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He talked to us about how biofuels policies are affecting commodity prices and trade but he says there are a lot of other factors affecting export volume. For example, he says that even …
Loosening OPEC’s Grip On Price
We know that OPEC has had a monopoly control over the price of oil on the world market and we hope that the increase of more environmentally friendly biofuels will force that to change. However, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, has created a model to measure how much impact we’re having. I spoke to David here at the Farm …
European Renewable Energy Mandate
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission To The United States here at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference was Laurent Javaudin. Laurent sent me a message about coming to the conference via my Twitter feed! I guess that makes him my Twitter buddy. His comments focused on the impact of EU mandates for renewable energy. To start with, …
Ethanol May Change Meat Trading Patterns
Biofuels production in Canada will impact meat trading patterns according to research by Al Mussell, George Morris Centre, University of Guelph. He says that the increase in biofuels production will turn the country into an importer of grains instead of an exporter. Al was one of the speakers at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He says that as …
Global Energy Policies Impact Poverty
A very interesting presentation at our Farm Foundation Global Trade and Policy Issues conference had to do with the impact on poverty. Tom Hertel, Purdue University, was our presenter. He says they conducted an international study of 16 developing countries and the impact of biofuels production on the poverty level. As he puts it, it’s a very complex issue. Most …
Food Issues & Energy Policies
Former Texas Congressman Charles Stenholm was the moderator for our second session here at the Farm Foundation Global Trade & Policy Issues conference. I don’t think you’ll find anyone more knowledgeable about the policy side of this discussion. He says that it’s clear to everyone that the price of our basic commodities which was extremely beneficial to our producers has …
Global Biofuels Analysis
Providing us with a “Technical Global Biofuels Analysis” here at the Farm Foundation Global Trade & Policy Issues conference was Thomas Alfstad, Brookhaven National Laboratory. Thomas was on the program to speak about a technical global biofuels analysis. He says that last year they completed a study on biofuels. They looked at the U.S. importing fuels to meet the RFS. …