During the next few months, EPIC’s programs and staff will be transitioning into Growth Energy. We are excited to be part of this new organization with a broad vision for not only the success of America’s agriculture and biofuels industry, but will also work to ensure that on a worldwide basis, biofuels are developed in a sustainable manner.

We look forward to working with Growth Energy and wish the best for all of our EPIC friends!

The first 30 farm broadcasters who stop by the EPIC booth at the NAFB Trade Talk to do an interview will receive a limited edition Team Ethanol cap – just like the one Indy car driver Ryan Hunter-Reay is wearing in this photo from the 2008 Indy 500. Ryan drove the Team Ethanol car to its best ever Indy 500 finish this year, and had the first ever victory for Number 17 in July at at the Camping World Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, NY.

EPIC Executive Director Toni Nuernberg will be at Trade Talk to discuss a new consumer survey that shows overwhelming support for biofuels as a way to reach energy independence. She will also be able to talk about EPIC’s successful blender pump initiative and how the ethanol industry is faring in the tough economy.

Also on hand at the EPIC booth will be Greg Krissek of ICM, one of the founders of the new ethanol organization Growth Energy. Greg will be able to discuss that topic, as well as any ethanol policy issues and ICM’s dry-frac technology.

However, I was rooting for Team Ethanol. They ran as high as 3rd place but according to driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, they lost a gamble on fuel strategy. He ran a strong race all day and really wanted to finish on the podium in front of so many fans of ethanol but it wasn’t to be. He finished 8th though and maybe he’ll get some breaks to go his way next time.

I’m out of here and heading home before getting on the road again tomorrow for the “Transition To a Bio Economy” conference in Berkeley, CA. See you from there.

Don’t forget to check out my photo album from all the activities of the past few days.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Our driver was Davey Hamilton.

Even though we only went about 95 mph, the curves were tough to deal with. As hard as I was pressing up against the door I was very glad to have my seat belt on.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

You can see individual posts with each of them on our Domestic Fuel site. But if you’d like to listen in or download the audio for your own use, here’s the links:

You can listen to Toni’s comments here: iowa-08-toni.mp3

Download it here.

You can listen to Craig’s comments here: iowa-08-floss.mp3

Download it here.

You can listen to Mike’s comments here: iowa-08-sobetski.mp3

Download it here.

You can listen to Troy’s comments here: iowa-08-hobbs.mp3

Download it here.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Ryan Hunter-Reay clocked a practice lap at 181.676 mph and is currently 7th fastest. The track was heating up this afternoon as we have a sunny day, something people here in Iowa are very happy to see. There’s another practice session this afternoon and they’ll be back out tomorrow.

We’re hoping to see Ryan crossing that finish line first on Sunday!

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Ryan says the Iowa race is very important, especially due to the connection to the corn growers here in the state. He says he’s learned so much from working with people in the ethanol industry, especially how it’s a real part of the solution to our energy crisis.

You can listen to my interview with Ryan here: iowa-08-hunter-reay-1.mp3

Or watch it on this video:

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Russ says that the company sees a great opportunity in the biofuels arena and their participation in this race provides them with a great opportunity to get the message out about the positive benefits of a fuel like ethanol.

You can listen to my interview with Russ here: iowa-08-sanders.mp3

Or watch it on this video:

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

I’ll be out at the track today and through the weekend following along with EPIC and finding the ag angle to the most exciting racing there is.

Regular (E10) was selling for $2.50/gallon and E85 was $1.85. I filled up my flex fuel van before I left.

Four of the IndyCar drivers were on hand to help out including Team Ethanol driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, pictured here, along with Ed Carpenter who is shaking hands with a lady who asked for their autographs.

I’ll have interviews and more pictures to come. We just got finished with the promotion and are taking a break to get something to eat.

Post Update: Here’s a link to the photo album I’ve started: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

I think it’s a great example of how a “blog” can be your primary website. EPIC staff, (occasionally, Cindy and myself), easily and frequently update the website with fresh information that their members want and need to know. Members can subscribe to it and there are plenty of pages of information that are also updated easily and frequently. It’s another ZimmComm New Media blog project that we’re pretty proud of. Elizabeth Hilpipre, EPIC staff, is becoming a master blogger and loves her new iMac btw.

The Kansas and South Dakota Corn Growers submitted the winning names which have been combined to become his official name. EPIC held a contest with members to come up with his name. The winners will get Edgar to appear at no charge to one of their events.

To hear more about the story of Edgar, I interviewed EPIC Executive Director, Toni Neurnberg. She describes the whole purpose behind the mascot initiative: epic-annual-mtg-eddgar.mp3

Team Ethanol is hoping to make a big impact on and off the track though. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council held a press conference earlier today and addressed mainstream media’s recent attention to negative criticism about ethanol. And, while Ryan wants to set a record this race, EPIC and other leading representatives in the ethanol business want to use this race as an opportunity to set the record straight on ethanol and ethanol-blended fuel. You can find coverage of the race and of EPIC’s response to mainstream criticism at DomesticFuel.com. Click here to find audio of EPIC’s press conference.

Nuernberg says when she decided to make a career move she was looking for an exciting new industry with lots of potential. “Clearly the ethanol industry is that and so much more,” she says. “The thing that struck me about it was that every person that I talked with about this position from the CEOs of the member organizations to the staff was their passion and the excitement that they feel about this industry.”

You can find out about her background, her goals and ideas for moving EPIC and the ethanol industry to a new level in their latest Fill Up Feel Good podcast, a program ZimmComm produces.

You can listen to it here: epic-podcast-2-4-08.mp3

In addition to the first place video prize, a “People’s Choice” award will be given, the winner receiving $5,000 and three “Sponsor’s Choice” award will be given, the winners receiving $1,250 each. Registered users of the site who vote each day are also entered into a drawing to win weekly prizes including $500 gas cards.

You can hear a sound bite from their press conference (Tom Slunecka) here: epic-cellulosic-release-slunecka-1.mp3

KL Process Design Group announced the production of cellulosic ethanol at their first plant in a separate release today as well.

In a development that could dramatically advance the renewable fuels industry, cellulosic ethanol is now in production at the first small scale waste wood commercial facility operating in the U.S. Located just 1 mile South of Upton, Wyoming, the plant was engineered, constructed and is operated by KL Process Design Group (KL). This is the result of six years of development efforts between KL and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Tom is the man who has been the voice of EPIC since the beginning a couple of years ago when he, along with founding members, ICM, POET and Fagen had the vision to start a promotional organization to brand their product and educate consumers in a big way. I remember when Tom walked into the media room at the Commodity Classic with some invitations to attend a press conference in Washington, DC with an IRL car on display. I think I was the only one to take him up on that offer at the time and we’ve been working with EPIC ever since.

I’d say we’ll miss Tom (I’m sure his staff will) but I know we’ll still be working with him as he ventures into the cellulosic side of the industry. So I guess you can view this as my exit interview with Tom from EPIC to a new chapter in his career. In my interview with Tom you’ll hear him say that EPIC is on very firm footing from a membership and financial standpoint and that there’s a full staff in place to move it forward aggressively in the coming year. I agree and I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunity to keep up with EPIC right here as we continue our support for the organization and the industry. We’re excited to find out who will replace Tom once the board completes their Executive Director search.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: cellulosic-summit-07-slunecka.mp3

The promotion officially kicked off the 2007 Petit Le Mans race weekend for EPIC. American Le Mans Series drivers Tom Milner and Peter Dumbreck manned the pumps, handed out autographs and divulged the benefits of ethanol fuel to consumers. E10, a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline, is “the official ethanol-enriched fuel” of the ALMS. This is the first year an endurance-based racing series has used a street legal renewable fuel.

The Sam’s Mart at New Northside Drive in Atlanta, GA pumped more than 1500 gallons of discounted E10 fuel for customers between 11:30 a.m and 1:30 p.m. Consumers were filling their tanks at a rate of $2.25 per gallon. This morning the fuel was selling for $2.75.

Racing fans also got to check out Peter’s #31 Ferrari F430GT, the official ALMS car for Petersen Motorsports/White Lighting Racing. Click here to check out the Ferrari’s deep, throaty throttle:
ferrarithrottle.mp3

According to the magazine, the entry was submitted by long time ZimmComm client, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

In just the past year, ethanol production has increased over 50%, given several segments of the ag economy a much needed boost, and increased household income by $6 billion.

The combined Nov/Dec issue of AgriMarketing magazine will feature a special supplement about ethanol and its impact on North American agriculture and agribusiness.

Obviously she was in victory lane after the race too. Here’s her take on the winner:

Just one word is fitting for Canadian Club Driver Dario Franchitti: Champion. Dario cinched the the 2007 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 after Scott Dixon fell behind the Scottish driver in the last few hundred feet of the race after racing with Dario neck and neck. The win also secured Dario the 2007 IndyCar Series Title. The Andretti Green Racing teammate also won the Indy 500, the Iowa Indy 250 and the Richmond Indy Challenge, where he set both a track record and an IRL record. Rumor has it Dario will be switching to stock cars next season. A report on Yahoo.com confirms that sources say Canadian Club will replace Coors Light as the sponsor for Ganassi’s No. 40 Dodge in NASCAR and Dario will make the switch with Canadian Club. After winning the Championship Sunday, Dario consistently dodged questions about the move.

If you want to keep track of my coverage you can find it on domesticfuel.com.

Thursday EPIC held another ethanol pump promotion to educate consumers about E10 and E85 ethanol fuel blends. Team Ethanol’s new IndyCar Driver Ryan Hunter-Reay greeted consumers at Gas City in Joliet and doled out autographs and even a couple of race day tickets.

You can listen to my interview with Ryan here:
Hunter-Reay_Ryan.mp3

EPIC is one of ZimmComm’s dearest clients (we love all of our clients!) so we sponsored Tom’s presentation at Boot Camp. After his talk, Tom had about a dozen mini Team Ethanol Indy Car replicas to give away so I came up with a list of questions for the participants to answer and win one of the cars. Most of the questions were pretty easy – like what kind of car can run on 10 percent ethanol? (Answer: virtually any car made after 1980) The one that stumped most everyone until somebody looked it up in the handout materials was – about how many vehicles on the road today are “flex-fuel” or capable of running on up to 85 percent ethanol? The answer is 6 million.

Yesterday was a little light too because much of it was spent doing website training at the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council offices. We re-built their member website recently and Elizabeth, Joanna and I finally found time to all be together in one room at the same time. Their member website is continuing to develop but it’s a great example of what you can do with a WordPress blog site.

By the time we were done I had compiled a list of about 10 new features and changes we’re going to be incorporating into the site. The site already allows EPIC to update it very easily and frequently without having to contract an outside firm and pay big bucks to make simple changes. Now that they’re all up to date on how to post, etc. I’m sue we’ll see even more regular fresh content for members to read (and subscribe to).

Al says that although he felt like he was preaching to the choir his presentation allowed corn growers to learn more about EPIC’s promotional activities and ask questions.

He also felt like he got to learn more about what Syngenta is doing to develop corn varieties that will make the ethanol production process more efficient.

Syngenta is also a member of EPIC.

You can listen to my interview with Al here: learning-centers-jentz.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Al Jentz Interview (4 min MP3)

This week’s program starts out with an EPIC update from executive director, Tom Slunecka which we did in the media center at Iowa Speedway. Then you can hear what the Indycars sound like when they blow by you at 180 mph. I recorded that while I was shooting through the cutout in the outside track perimeter fence. What you’ll hear is from the cars only a couple of feet away on the other side of the barrier. Since they’re running on 100% ethanol I think they’ve totally answered any questions there are about the fuel’s performance value.

Next up you can listen to the introduction of the first ever chopper built to run on E85. This is a collaborative effort by Iowa Farm Bureau and Orange County Choppers. One of the OCC dudes did a ceremonial lap on it prior to the race.

The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and a band called moisture fuel. The song is “Collide.” I think it’s appropriate since we’re talking fuel and there were a lot of collisions at the race on Sunday. Be ready to rock.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 125 (20 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast125-6-26-07.mp3

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.

The winner is Dario Franchitti. He was a survivor out there because it was a brutal race of attrition after multiple accidents.

Dario is here in Victory Lane with members of the Iowa Corn Growers.

This has been a very busy week here in Iowa and you can find more stories and interviews over on Domestic Fuel. I’ve got about 240 of the 1,000 pictures I took in my online photo album. I hope you enjoy them.

I’m heading on home and get a nice week of home office time before heading to Oklahoma on July 4th. You’ll learn more about that this week.

To get things started we had a press conference titled, “Ethanol: Fueling Our Future” which was coordinated by the Iowa Corn Growers Association. On hand were Iowa’s state senators, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin. Also on the program was IA Lt. Governor, Patty Judge, IA Sec. of Ag, Bill Northey, Peter Hemken, DuPont VP, Bob Bowman, ICGA president and Kyle Phillips, ICPB Chairman. Here’s WHO farm dude Ken Root doing a post-conference interview.

I did not get to attend the conference but thanks to Tim Hoskins, IA Farmer Today, I have the full audio of the press conference for you to listen to. Right now the dignitaries are touring the garages.

Here’s this morning’s press conference: iowa-corn-07-race-press.mp3

This is what an IndyCar driver does a lot of. It’s Jeff Simmons doing an autograph session after an Iowa Corn Growers/EPIC reception at the track this afternoon.

The Rahal-Letterman team did very good today. Scott Sharp in the Patron car qualified for 4th place in the starting lineup with a speed of 181.713 mph and Jeff Simmons in the Ethanol car qualified 6th with a speed of 181.527 mph which is his highest qualifying position ever! This is a tight field with only the slightest fractions of a second separating the top qualifiers.

You can watch the race live on ABC at 12pm central time.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association has been instrumental in making this race a reality here in Newton, IA. One of the corn growers here who’s very excited about what’s taking place is ICGA president-elect, Tim Recker. I interviewed Tim after he and other ICGA leaders unveiled the trophy for this weekend’s race. He says that the Iowa corn growers saw this race as an opportunity to really promote ethanol nationally and especially showcase all the work being done in Iowa to develop this renewable fuel resource. You can listen to my interview with Tim here: iowa-corn-07-recker.mp3

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is also very involved in the promotion of this race, working very closely with organizations like the Iowa Corn Growers Association and Pioneer Hi-Bred. EPIC’s executive director Tom Slunecka was in the media center this afternoon. Tom was happy. And if Tom’s happy, I’m happy (EPIC is the founding and primary sponsor of our sister site, Domestic Fuel).

I got him to sit down for a minute and talk about how he thinks it’s going. He’s just as excited about this race as all the corn growers I’ve spoken with this week. He says that the work EPIC has been doing to create a brand that consumers are aware of and trust is really paying off and venues like this race as well as all the IRL races have been key to showcasing the performance value of ethanol.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: iowa-corn-07-slunecka.mp3

He just got done dialing in the computer settings with his team in advance of what looks like some stormy weather moving in.

I’m glad these drivers got their practice in because there’s not much time left before Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250. They’ll do qualifying tomorrow.