Kenny Wallace, NASCAR driver, says, “Ethanol all the way in NASCAR!” That’s what he told me this afternoon in the American Farm Bureau Federation Pavilion on the floor of the AG CONNECT Expo. Thanks to Tricia Braid, Illinois Corn Growers, for setting up our interview and taking the photo. Kenny was signing autographs in the Nationwide Insurance exhibit. You won’t …
Obama Signs Bill Giving Death Tax Relief
President Obama held a public signing ceremony for the tax bill passed by Congress this week that delivers early Christmas presents for everyone, giving farmers and ranchers good reason to be thankful this holiday season. Securing meaningful estate tax reform for farm and ranch families has been a top priority for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We commend President Obama …
BRANDT to Sponsor NASCAR Driver
An Illinois-based crop technology company is getting on track with NASCAR. BRANDT is pleased to announce a partnership with Turner Motorsports and will serve as primary sponsor of the No. 31 Chevrolet Impala, driven by NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) championship contender, Justin Allgaier during the 2011 racing season. Allgaier, who finished the 2010 season fourth in the NNS championship points …
Christmas Comes Early for Iowa City Woman
Christmas came last Friday for an Iowa City woman who won free food and fuel for a year from the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Katie Ortmann was the winner of the Iowa Corn Fed GameDay GiveAway campaign when her name was called during halftime of the Iowa State versus Iowa men’s basketball game held on December 10, 2010 in Iowa …
Grocers Join Opposition Against Farmers
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to interview retired farmer Merle Anderson for my Between the Lines blog (Three Pieces of Advice From the Father of Ethanol). For those who truly know, love and respect Merle, he is none other than the “Father of Ethanol”. Thirty four years ago, Merle got a group of farmers together in Minnesota (he …
American Ethanol Will Power NASCAR
NASCAR is in the middle of making an announcement of a “major long-term partnership with American Ethanol which is being led by Growth Energy. You can see a video that was just published below. I hope to have some audio from the announcement added after the official public announcement which is taking place in Las Vegas as of this posting. …
Farm Bureau: Republicans Not Bad for Agriculture
While some are worried that the new fiscal hawks who were elected as the Republicans swept control of the U.S. House will be bad for agricultural interests in this country, the American Farm Bureau Federation says the shift to the right doesn’t necessarily mean the wrong path for farm policies. “I know there’s people in the press who have said, …
RFA Loves NAFB
There were lots of ethanol issues to discuss at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Trade Talk event in Kansas City last week. The topics included the lame duck session of Congress, importance of renewing biofuels tax incentives, doing more to invest in cellulosic ethanol, labeling for E15 at the pump, just to name a few. Renewable Fuels Association …
Former Congressman Named Growth Energy President
Growth Energy has announced former congressman Jim Nussle as new president and chief operating officer of the ethanol organization, effective November 1. Jim Nussle (pictured on the left with Growth CEO Tom Buis) is a former eight-term Congressman from Iowa and served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He has served on …
Vilsack Visits Georgia Peanut and Ethanol Producers
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in the Peach State earlier this week talking with peanut growers and visiting an ethanol plant. Ethanol plants in the southeast are pretty rare – in fact, First United Ethanol, LLC (FUEL) is really the only one to speak of that is operating at any capacity. FUEL is a 100 million gallon per year corn-based …