At this summer’s farm shows you’ll see the folks at the Propane Education and Research Council providing support to various state groups. Here at the Farm Progress Show, Mark Leitman stopped by the AgWired table in the media tent. He says that PERC is supporting the Iowa Propane Gas Association. Mark says that farmers are stopping by their exhibit and …
Farm Progress Burns B20 Biodiesel Blend
Ag equipment has been running on biodiesel during the Farm Progress Show for a number of years, but this year is the first year machinery will be operating on a B20 blend at the show. Growmark is this year’s official Farm Progress Show fuel sponsor. Mark Dehner, Marketing Manger Refined and Renewable Fuels for Growmark, says the company is using …
Interview with the Secretary
We like to pack as much into a trip as we can, so this morning we left Tampa early to get to Orlando for the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit where Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer was speaking. I got a chance to sit down with him and chat for a few minutes, and since this was mainly for programs I …
Florida Farm to Fuel Summit
Cindy and I got up early this morning and left Tampa for Orlando where we’re attending the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit. I think this is the third one. We missed our old friend Charlie Bronson, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, although he’ll be here later this afternoon. We did see him on video though. Right now our U.S. Secretary of …
Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy
A new group with some significant resources has jumped head first into the food and fuel debate. Members include the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association. The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy brings together a broad group of visionary companies and organizations committed to sustainably and responsibly improving diets and reducing …
Ag Secretary Ed Schafer Urges Private Investors to Develop Africa
Investment in Africa is spurring economic innovation and growth throughout the continent. There’s no question about that for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer. “Make no mistake about it,” Schafer said. “Investment in agriculture, investment in the structure of agriculture to move food to the market, is an investment in Africa’s future.” Schafer urged private sector investors to build …
A New Vision for Africa
Changing the African vision from one of short-term pay-offs to that of long-term success was one of the key issues for panelists at the “Education and Knowledge Building in Animal Agriculture” breakout session. The session was one of fifteen being offered at the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum. The workshop, sponsored by Novus International, featured a panel of experts that …
More On Ethanol Plant Location
On the subject of locating a biorefinery we had another presentation on the subject here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. This one was by David Perkis, Purdue University. He says the purpose of his work is to answer questions that local decision makers have such as, Where to locate plants?, What do we have to prepare for?, …
Where To Locate Your Ethanol Plant
Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants. His work focused on the location determinants that attract potential plants in certain areas. He …
USDA Rural Development Biofuels Assistance
We had USDA Rural Development represented here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference by Tony Crooks. He works with their rural business cooperatives program and has done a lot of work with communities in the area of ethanol and biodiesel. The challenge he says we have today in rural communities is the large capital outlay to get a …