Ethanol Rocks

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Chuck

Okay, I think most of us will agree that a little ethanol on the rocks, rocks. Sorry, couldn’t help it . Ethanol Rocks is actually a National Corn Growers Association video contest.

NCGA is conducting a nationwide competition to promote the advantages of ethanol in motor vehicles. The NCGA “Ethanol Rocks” Video Contest invites high school and college students to produce a promotional video that highlights the benefits of this fuel. NCGA acknowledges the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association for sharing its success with the “Fuel the Future” video competition.

Eligibility

Active high school (grades 9-12) and college students, individually or collectively, are eligible to submit entries. One $1,500 first place award and one $500 second place award will be issued in both the high school and the college level categories. Each award will be issued as one lump-sum payment, i.e., no multiple distributions of winnings. Students from all scholastic backgrounds/majors are eligible to enter, individually or through organizations, e.g., A/V classes, Ag Clubs, FFA, Science Clubs, Art Classes. Appropriate tax on the awards will be the responsibility of the winners.

Get more information here and entry form/rules here.

Senate Transportation Bill Includes Ag Provisions

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Cindy

By a vote of 74-22, the Senate has approved a highway transportation re-authorization bill that includes agricultural-related amendments passed Tuesday.

The amendments include one by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) which will exempt drivers of farm vehicles from having to acquire a commercial driver’s license, and another by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) which will waive hours of service restrictions during harvest seasons.

These were among 2012 priority issues for the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCBA). “Farmers and ranchers are not professional truck drivers and shouldn’t be treated as such,” said NCBA Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Kent Bacus. “Hauling livestock to market two times a year is hardly the same as hauling goods across the country on a daily basis. Subjecting family farmers and ranchers to costly and requirements is an unnecessary burden we cannot afford.”

Meanwhile, amendments to the bill related to biodiesel and advanced ethanol tax incentives failed to make it in the final bill. An amendment offered by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and another by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) would have extended the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax incentive, which expired at the end of last year, through the end of this year. “We thank Sen. Stabenow and Sen. Roberts for including biodiesel in their amendments, and we urge Congress to break this partisan gridlock and find a way to enact policies like the biodiesel tax credit that have strong bipartisan support,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board.

The Senate bill now moves to the House for consideration.

Important Issues to Sorghum Producers

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Chuck

During Commodity Classic I got to visit with Terry Swanson, Chairman, National Sorghum Producers. I asked him what his message is to not only sorghum producers but all the farmers belonging to the four commodity groups at Classic and he says, “We have to be unified.” He says that altogether they’re still a small group of people that need to speak with one voice.

Terry farms in Colorado which he calls the “epicenter of the dust bowl.” This means that a safety net and crop insurance are critical for them. Conservation is also an important issue for him. He says that NSP is looking at ways that the sorghum crop can play a role in water conservation. He also says that a third of the sorghum crop is used to make ethanol, a third to livestock feed and a third is exported. Biofuels and issues surrounding them like the RFS are very important to sorghum producers. He says the RFS creates markets and that’s important to producers.

Listen to my interview with Terry here: Interview with Terry Swanson

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland

Ethanol on Stage at New Holland Club Blue

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Chuck

During the 2012 Commodity Classic New Holland held a “Club Blue” event at the Grand Ole Opry for their dealers to discuss their new national marketing campaign. It was also a time to talk about partnerships with industry related organizations and that included Growth Energy, another AgWired supporter. On hand to talk to the attendees was Tom Buis, CEO, Growth Energy. He was introduced by Abe Hughes, VP, New Holland North America. Abe spoke to how important the ethanol industry is to New Holland. As he put it, “Ethanol’s success means our success.”

Tom proceeded to discuss the current state of the ethanol industry and the challenges facing the industry, especially on the regulatory front. He also talked about American Ethanol and the current NASCAR promotional program. New Holland is also a supporter of NASCAR and you’ll often see blue machines working at various tracks around the country.

Listen to Tom’s comments here: Tom Buis at Club Blue

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland

National Ethanol Conference Kicks Off

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Chuck

I’m back, back in the Gaylord again. Almost sounds like a line from an Aerosmith song. Now I’m not going to get that out of my head. But I am back in a Gaylord hotel again. This time it’s the 2012 National Ethanol Conference. Cindy will be joining me tomorrow as we provide full coverage on our Domestic Fuel website.

We’re planning to live stream opening comments from Renewable Fuels Association President/CEO, Bob Dinneen on Thursday morning. More on that to come.

Orange County Choppers Paul Sr. Unveils Biodiesel Bike

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Chuck

The big news today at the National Biodiesel Conference was the unveiling of the biodiesel bike built by Paul Teutul, Sr., Orange County Choppers. The bike was built in partnership with CIMA Green. Today the bike debuted on stage driven by former NBB Chairman, Ed Hegland. Then Paul Sr. himself drove it onto the biodiesel vehicle showcase floor where he talked about the project with attendees. CIMA Green actually had two bikes built and donated one to the National Biodiesel Board along with a check for $50,000 to use for transportation expenses to showcase the bike at various events around the country.

I spoke with Paul Sr. just prior to his entry into the exhibit hall and he says the bike was a tough one to build. He says it’s not a speed demon but it won’t break down, “It’s just made to go.” The bike has affectionately been named Susie, btw.

Listen to my interview with Paul Sr. here: Interview with Paul Sr.

Listen to Paul Sr. describe the biodiesel bike here: Paul Sr. Remarks

Here’s video of Paul, Sr. driving into the exhibit hall.

Remember that you can follow what the Twitterverse is saying about the conference using the hashtag #NBB12.

2012 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

National Biodiesel Conference Opening Speech

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Chuck

Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board, welcomed attendees to the 2012 National Biodiesel Conference this morning. He started out by telling a story about what biodiesel means to him and how he got involved in energy, politics and history. One of the things that really got him interested in the industry was, “I wrote a paper for my high school economics class about developing a market for ag-based fuels to supplement our energy supply . . . So my paper was overly simplistic and naïve, but after working in this industry for almost 15 years now, the basic idea is clearer than ever, and has now become a reality.” However, he says, “Over the past four decades America has not had a consistent and clear energy policy.”

Joe spent some time talking about the RFS.

The RFS demonstrated last year that effective energy policy can be carried out by actual energy policy. After the first year of implementation it has its wrinkles to iron out and we are going to talk about those in depth. But 2011 demonstrated that the RFS can work at doing what Congress intended, which is to draw renewable fuels into the market. I want to commend the EPA for their work in bringing this program together. They have had a very difficult job to take a brand new complex law and a wide range of stakeholders, and build a workable program.

The RFS has created a clear, predictable, stable and sustainable future for this industry.

Listen to or download Joe’s speech here: Joe Jobe Speech

2012 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Revived Renewable Fuels

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Chuck

While I’m attending IPE Week, Cindy is at today’s Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. Most of her coverage can be found on Domestic Fuel. Just thought I’d share this first story with you:

Today’s 6th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit kicked off in Des Moines on Tuesday on a very positive note, considering that 2011 was a record year in the state for both ethanol and biodiesel.

In his annual address to the summit, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw noted that the state’s 41 ethanol plants produced 3.7 billion gallons of ethanol. “If Iowa were a country, it would be the third largest ethanol producer in the world, behind only the rest of the United States and Brazil,” said Shaw.

He also noted that with the return of the biodiesel tax credit in 2011 helped most of Iowa’s biodiesel plants return to production. “Ten Iowa biodiesel plants operated during 2011 produced a record 169 million gallons,” said Shaw.

However, Shaw noted that the challenges facing biofuels are just as strong as ever. “I know it’s hard to believe, but not everyone in America enjoys the renewable fuels success story,” he said, outlining the attacks against ethanol in particular by the food and oil industries. “Today the oil industry enjoys billions of dollars in tax subsidies while the renewable fuels industry has none,” said Shaw, proceeding to name off all of the subsides unique to the oil industry.

Shaw outlined the priority issues for the renewable fuels industry in 2012 as getting the biodiesel tax credit reinstated, keeping the Renewable Fuel Standard in place, and getting E15 commercially available.

Listen to Shaw’s address to the 6th annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit here: IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw address

2012 Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit Photos

BASF Invests in Cellulosic Sugar Company

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Cindy

Global chemical giant BASF has invested $30 million in a Pennsylvania-based company that has developed a process to produce cellulosic sugars for renewable chemicals and biofuels.

BASF, through subsidiary BASF Biorenewable Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG led a $50 million financing round in the technology firm Renmatix Inc.

BASF Renmatix has developed the patented Plantrose™ platform whereby industrial sugar can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass (wood, cane trash or straw). In the Plantrose technology, biomass is split into cellulose and sugar in supercritical water at high temperature and pressure in a two-step process.

Industrial sugars are important renewable resources for the chemical industry and can be used, for example, to produce biofuels or basic chemical products and intermediates by fermentative processes. The availability of industrial sugars in sufficient quantities and at favorable cost is therefore important for the competitiveness of the products.

Trends in Energy/Alternative Fuels

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Chuck

During the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Trends in Agriculture Conference we had a session that focused on “Trends In Energy/Alternative Fuels” which featured Nathan Schock, POET & Matt Roberts, PhD. Pictured is Matt who is an Associate Professor of Ag Economics at Ohio State University.

Matt does a lot of work in biofuels. One of his take aways from the session is that even though we’re going to see a lot of ethanol policy changes in the market soon with the end of the VEETC/Tariff, “There’s not going to actually be that large of an impact right now when that goes away.” He says long term there may be some impact. The RFS is a different animal though. He believes it needs to be re-opened on the cellulosic side but seems to be working on the corn ethanol side. Changes, however, could have a real impact on the corn side.

He says that when you look at the big picture of ethanol and the biofuels industry there aren’t simple answers. He encourages the industry to take a step back and “think about the fundamental reasons that are out there and what’s driving it and start with the questions.” He says everyone seems to start with an answer looking for a problem to solve with it instead of asking a question first and then seeking the answer to that question.

You can find Matt online at MatthewCRoberts.com.

You can listen to my interview with Matt here: Interview with Roberts

2011 NAMA Trends in Agriculture Photo Album

Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF

Biodiesel Falls Under Minnesota Ag Marketing & Development

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Cindy

Fields of soybeans surround the newly re-opened Renewable Energy Group REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant in southern Minnesota, serving as a reminder of where the renewable fuel is rooted.

Christina Connelly with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Ag Marketing and Development Division attended the grand re-opening Monday of the 30 million gallon a year plant, which was shut down in 2008 due to the economic situation in the biofuels industry at the time. Christina manages the bioenergy programs within the division. “We’ve had the bioenergy programs at the department since back in the ’80s when corn and soybean prices were real low and biofuels were seen as an additional market,” she says. “So we’ve had it housed in the marketing department ever since and we’ve done a lot with ethanol and biodiesel over the years to help jump start both those industries.”

Christina says they are very excited to see the biodiesel plant re-open to get production back on track in the state since getting capacity back to where it was a few years ago means about 6800 direct and indirect jobs for the state.

Listen to or download interview with Christina here. Christina Connelly with Minnesota Department of Agriculture

REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant photo album

Biodiesel Adds Value to Minnesota Soybeans

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Cindy

The Renewable Energy Group (REG) celebrated the official grand opening of REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant in Minnesota on Monday, with representatives of the state and local community and agriculture industry.

REG President and COO Dan Oh (right) says the plant was shut down in 2008 when economic woes hit the biodiesel industry, but REG felt it was a significant plant that needed to get back in operation. “Think of a gallon of biodiesel in roughly every bushel of soybeans, this is a 30 million gallon biodiesel facility, so that really adds value back to a bean bushel,” Dan told me.

Listen to or download my interview with Dan here. REG President Dan Oh

Pictured here with Dan is Jim Willers, a Minnesota farmer who is a director on the United Soybean Board and a member of the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. Jim says he’s proud of Minnesota’s support of biodiesel and how it in turn supports the local economy. “This plant’s put almost 25-30 people back to work, there’s usually 50 trucks that go through here and the spin off effect from this plant creates almost 2,000 jobs,” he said.

Listen to or download my interview with Jim here. Minnesota soybean farmer Jim Willers

Watch the ribbon cutting below and see photos in the REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant photo album

Agricultural Bio-based Careers are Booming

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Cindy

Novozymes was one of the companies that participated in the AgCareers.com 2011 North American Ag HR Roundtable held this past week at Purdue University. Novozymes is a Danish-based international company which specializes in enzymes for bioag products, biofuels and bio-pharmaceuticals.

Novozymes Recruitment and Employer Branding Manager Darlene Godsey says the company’s workforce has increased tremendously just in the last five years. “With the growth of biofuels specifically in the U.S., we grew substantially, doubling the size of our R&D team and trying to support the growth of the biofuels industry was what drove a lot of it,” she said. Godsey spoke to the roundtable of more than 150 agribusiness employers, professional organizations and college career counselors about what Novozymes is doing to recruit new “Zymers,” the term they use to describe their employees.

Godsey says they worked with a marketing company to develop special tokens that current Zymers could hand out to prospective Zymers. The token sends them to a special website that serves to introduce them to the Novozymes culture and help determine if they would be a good fit. “We wanted the experience for the employees and candidates to be reflective of how we work, that we do things differently, we are innovative and we challenge conventions,” she said.

The Zymer token program was just introduced in March and Godsey says they have already hired six people from that data base. “I have a target of 20 percent of our hires coming from the referral data base in the future,” she said.

Listen to my interview with Darlene here: Interview with Darlene Godsey of Novozymes

2011 AgCareers Ag HR Roundtable photo album.

Book Review – The Vertical Farm

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Joanna

I spent some time learning about ways the world can feed a burgeoning population. One emerging idea is through a “vertical farm,” an idea that has been promoted by Dr. Dickson Despommier, a former professor of microbiology and public health in environmental sciences at Columbia. He recently authored, “The Vertical Farm Feeding the World in the 21st Century,” which lays out the idea of growing our food vertically in greenhouse skyscrapers, rather than spread out over hundreds of millions of acres of farmland.

This idea has really captured my fancy and got my head spinning around all the ways it could be carried out. But let me take a step back. Today, our food travels on average 1,500 miles from field to table. Crazy. Much of our produce and fruits come from places like Mexico and South America. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could come from your own city?

That is exactly what Despommier is promoting. In the middle of an urban area could be a “vertical farm” that grows produce, fruits and grains and houses things such as fish farms. These future farms would grow our food year round while the excess waste, or biomass could be used to produce bioelectricity and biofuels. In fact, Despommier says that in some cases, a vertical farm could have up to five harvests per year.

While his idea could potentially grow grains like corn or wheat, the initial idea focuses on other crops. In my mind, for many, many years to come, the majority of our grains will still be grown in the great outdoors. In addition, there will be no animals here – they will still roam the countryside as well.

He writes that ideally, they would be cheap to build, modular, durable, easily maintained, and safe to operate. A vertical farm would mitigate external influences on crops such as too much rain or drought and disease along with the need for fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. Vertical farms would provide well-paying jobs and improve economics. He also believes they should be independent of economic subsidies and outside support once they are up and running and they should be profitable. Continue reading →

Argonne Studying Biofuels Production

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Chuck

CTIC Tour During the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project field tour we heard a presentation from Cristina Negri, an agronomist with the Argonne National Laboratory. Cristina told us about a project they are working on in the watershed to see what types of agricultural production will work best for biofuels. They’re looking for marginal land that doesn’t lend itself to growing corn and looking at alternative crops. Efficiently using nitrogen will be important to whatever crop is found to work best for biofuels. The name of the project is “Biomass Production and Nitrogen Recovery.” You can read about it here (pdf).

To determine the opportunity, relevance and sustainability of a biomass production scenario and BMP that recover marginal land and impaired water to support productivity. This scenario by design maximizes sustainability benefits at the farm and landscape/watershed levels.

Cristina participated in the CTIC tour to learn more about the production practices being used by farmers in the watershed and says she learned a lot. You can learn more about her project from a presentation she gave our tour group during lunch: Cristina Negri Presentation

CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos

AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by

NCGA’s Tolman Receives FEW High Octane Award

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Chuck

I am attending the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop which is being held in Indianapolis, IN. It’s the “technical” conference for the industry where lots of the latest in technology and processes are presented in multiple, simultaneous workshops. This morning it was also where the 2011 FEW High Octane Award was presented.

Receiving the award is Rick Tolman, CEO, National Corn Growers Association. The award was presented by Tom Bryan, BBI International. Rick made a few comments about working in support of the industry. He says there are three main reasons for why he does it. First, it’s the economy, to take some of the money that’s going overseas and invest it in rural America. Then it’s the environment, trying to bring the reality of a clean, renewable energy source to the U.S. and reduce our GHG emissions. And third it’s national security, to bring home the men and women overseas trying to protect the flow of oil. You can listen to or download his remarks here: Rick Tolman Award Remarks

You will find much more coverage of the 2011 FEW over on our sister website, Domestic Fuel. Feel free to follow the Twitter hashtag, #FEW11 too.

2011 FEW Photo Album

Our coverage of the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop is being made possible by the Renewable Fuels Association.

G-20 Agricultural Ministers Make Action Plan

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Cindy

Agriculture Ministers from the G20 nations reached agreement this week on a plan to reduce world food price volatility.

“The consensus reached today by the G-20 Agricultural Ministers marks an historic union of resolve in combating the pressing challenges of hunger and food price volatility confronting our world with greater regularity,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement from Paris where the meeting took place this week.

The G-20 Action Plan includes creation of an agricultural market information system charged with collecting accurate and timely data on world crop supply, demand and food stocks; and the removal of barriers to food exports for humanitarian purposes. The ministers also agreed to starting a pilot program for “small, targeted regional emergency food reserves for a limited group of countries” and helping smaller, women and young farmers in developing countries to improve productivity.

The ministers stopped short of making any recommendations that would impact the production of biofuels, but did call for further analysis of the impact of biofuels on food availability, price volatility and sustainability. “We also recognize the importance of research and development on biofuels, including those produced through new processes or new feedstocks, non-food feedstocks and other vegetable materials,” they said in their declaration.

Ethanol Potential in Giant Sweet Potatoes

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Cindy

Giant sweet potatoes could help South Carolina get into the ethanol game and provide an alternative crop for farmers to replace tobacco.

CAREnergy etuber At the recent International Biomass Conference and Expo in St. Louis, Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac attracted a lot of attention carrying around a sweet potato the size of a newborn baby.

She’s the president of CAREnergy, Carolina Advanced Renewable Energy, located in South Carolina and dedicated to the development of dedicated energy crops for the southeast, such as the eTuber™ sweet potato and sweet sorghum. “We are looking at feedstocks for ethanol and other fuels for the southeastern states because corn is not a crop that does well in the southeast. So, what we want is a very efficient crop for water, nitrogen, very high yielding,” she said, and the eTuber meets those qualifications. “These are very dry sweet potatoes, these are not in the food market, it would be a dedicated energy crop,” she explained. “We would like to build or takeover a corn ethanol plant to show that these feedstocks work, in combination with sweet sorghum, which does very well in the southeast. We want to get in the ethanol game and create clean, green jobs in one of the poorest areas of the United States.”

Janice says the tubers can grow to be over 20 pounds, which would translate into enough starch to produce 1500-1800 gallons of ethanol per acre. “The longer you grow them, the bigger they get. This crop never dies until the frost kills it.”

Listen to or download my interview with Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac here: Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac, CAREnergy

Rural America Key to Energy Security

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Joanna

“I am a great believer in American ingenuity,” began Vilsack during his speech in Shenandoah, Iowa where the only first generation ethanol plant is co-located with an algae plant. “I’m a great believer in the capacity of the American farmer and rancher to literally meet any challenge.”

Vilsack recently went on an “energy” tour of the Midwest where he visited various energy projects, many that are supported by the USDA. One project, started three years ago, is the BioProcess Algae project co-located with a first generation corn-ethanol plant. The algae plant utilizes the waste carbon dioxide, waste water and waste heat to produce algal fuels and by-products. Vilsack, along with CEO Tim Burns of BioProcess Algae and CEO Todd Becker of Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) all believe that farmers will soon be growing algae – just like they currently grow other energy crops such as corn. In fact, Burns’ vision is that in 10 or 15 years, when you fly over Iowa, you will see concentric circles of algae around the ethanol biorefineries.

While Vilsack was excited about the technology and partnership happening in Shenandoah, Iowa, maybe what he was more excited about was the ability for domestically produced energy to revitalize rural America. During his keynote speech, Vilsack focused on the need for innovative and creative jobs to bring bright, young people back home. Today, 16 percent of our country’s population comes from rural areas like Shenandoah, Iowa and 44 percent of our military comes from these areas.

Vilsack believes that projects such as the BioProcess Algae / GPRE project will spread across the country and rural communities. “There’s phenomenal innovation and phenomenal growth opportunities to be able to do something for your country that needs to be done and that’s to wean ourselves off of our dependence on foreign oil,” continued Vilsack. “It’s an opportunity for us to create jobs in small towns. It’s an opportunity for American agriculture to continue to respond to the challenges it has met time after time in the country.”

There are four components that Vilsack believes are the secret for success in revitalizing the rural economy: significant investment dollars, innovation, networking, and a sense of place. Vilsack said these are the reasons why the USDA was supporting this project.

He concluded, “I want to congratulate the folks at BioProcess Algae and I want to congratulate the ethanol industry and the advanced biofuels industry for coming together in this operation because it’s a model for the rest of the country and it sends a strong unmistakable message the ethanol industry and the biofuels industry is here to stay and is going to play an important role in shaping not just opportunity for America but very specifically a wonderful opportunity, an unlimited opportunity for the bright young people who want to live, and work and raise their family in the greatest part of America.”

Click here to view the Flickr photo album from the BioProcess Algae/GPRE Grower Harvester event.