When it comes to biodiesel in farm machinery, New Holland is outstanding in the field.
At the National Farm Machinery Show, most of the New Holland equipment on display proudly displayed soybean biodiesel signage, and company representatives wore buttons proclaiming their support for the domestically-produced fuel. “New Holland has a strong commitment to not only be a part of biodiesel, but also to be a leader in the industry as far as future fuel usage is concerned,” New Holland regional service manager Phil Cobb said at the farm show. He says it was natural for their company to take the lead. “Mainly because our customers are in the soybean areas and grow soybeans,” said Cobb. “Not only does it support farming, we also use the fuel. It’s important for the ag industry to be on the leading edge.”
Cobb says all New Holland equipment is approved for a minimum of five percent biodiesel, with the large combines approved for 100 percent and many of the tractors approved for up to 20 percent.
Listen to my interview with Phil from NFMS here:
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In case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of the music of
Emily announced that she and Jason have been working on a music project since last year’s conference. They’re using a service called
Today’s National Biodiesel Conference general session featured National Biodiesel Board Chairman Ed Hegland. He’s completing his final term as Chairman.
The CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, Joe Jobe, was on stage to welcome a standing room only crowd at the opening general session to the Conference. He opened up with a political theme to his remarks.
Organizations representing both biofuels and agriculture are pretty happy overall with
Dr. Tom Richard, Associate Professor with Pennsylvania State University, kicked off the session discussing the agricultural value of adding winter crops or double crops to a farmer’s rotation. An example of a winter crop that would be suitable for Pennsylvania is winter rye. Once harvested, the crop could be used for cellulosic ethanol. An example of a double crop would be planning a grain such as barley in the spring followed by a summer crop such as corn or soybean. Richard noted that when most people do a biomass potential study, they don’t factor in winter crops and double crops, thus reducing the amount of biofuels that could be produced on the same amount of land currently in production.
and 
What do you think of when you hear that there’s a sled running on biodiesel? Probably not thinking tractor pull sled are you? Unless you’re a tractor pull fan. Well those big machines that the tractors and trucks pull are also diesel powered and in Jefferson City, MO there’s a company that manufactures them and runs them on biodiesel.
Donnie says they do over 160 shows a year around the country. At the Midwest Extreme Truck and Tractor Pull in Jefferson City he says they had two sleds in operation. He says they run B20 in them and have been for over 3 years very successfully. Donnie says they’ve had a lot of luck locating the fuel when they need it, especially at major truck stops.
The NCGA Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-Based Ethanol Conference is underway here at the Renaissance hotel by the St. Louis airport. This is our first panel discussion on “Emission Factors and Land Use Change Modeling” which is being moderated by Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association. We’re talking some very involved talks on things like Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis, Measuring Indirect Land Use from Biofuels, Analysis of the RFS and more.
Here are two biofuels promoters. Chuck Leavell, Rolling Stones (left) and Joe Jobe, CEO of the
For the third year in a row I got to sit in the studio with Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board (left) and Michael Peterson (right) while they were guests on the
AgWired goes country this week at the 2009 Country Music Association’s annual summer Music Fest, commonly known as Fan Fair. Once again we’re sponsored by
Biofuels from the perspective of India and East Africa, as well as Europe and the United States, were part of the discussion at the World Ag Congress in St. Louis on Tuesday. 
The legislative guru for the
Want an example of how one group is using Twitter in a very coordinated way? Check out the