R&D Risk in Renewable Fuels

Chuck Zimmerman

Gordon RausserTwo key words in a presentation at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference were flexibility and diversification. These are important to managing risk, especially in R&D for renewable fuels.

Our presenter was Gordon Rausser, University of California, Berkeley, who was here with his assistant Maya Papineau. I interviewed them both together after the presentation. Gordon says that we should be looking at R&D risk as a portfolio of opportunities. He says we should be managing the overall risk by recognizing the inter-relationships among the technologies and their ultimate commercialization. He also says that stand alone analysis will miss much of the opportunities that will arise.

When it comes to flexibility he suggests giving yourself options so that you can take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. He says that current ethanol plants are vulnerable going forward since they don’t have the flexibility to move to different feedstocks.

Maya talked about probably breakthroughs in renewable energy technology. She says that it’s important for how you use public and private R&D resources to maximize the investment.

You can listen to my interview with Gordon and Maya here: ff-bio-08-rausser.mp3

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation, Research

Switchgrass Risks

Chuck Zimmerman

Jim LarsonThe second session here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference was on risk and uncertainty.

Jim Larson, University of Tennessee, talked about farmers risk in growing switchgrass as a biomass feedstock for fuel production. He says that this is a commodity that will come into play looking forward. His research shows that it’s risky for farmers because it’s difficult to establish and takes several years to get to full yield. He thinks that farmers will need incentives from biomass processors to get started.

Harvesting this crop is also risky since you have to deal with large amounts of material that’s subject to weather and storage concerns. Some ways to help with risk would be contracting and price guarantees.

You can listen to my interview with Jim here: ff-bio-08-larson.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation

Getting Down To The Farm Level

Chuck Zimmerman

John MiranowskiOne of our speakers here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference brought the discussion down to the farm level. John Miranowski, Iowa State University, spoke about the impact of biofuels on the rural economy and the farm structure.

He says that their numbers indicate that increasing biofuels production will have a positive impact on rural communities and farm structure up to a point but that it could have some negative impacts. One thing is certain, he sees an uncertain future for biofuels.

However, even with the uncertainty, he thinks the industry will make a go of it because of an increased demand for fuel. As far as where we’re going, he sees a bigger role for corn and corn stover fuels given the RFS and that this is one area where we have an ability to increase productivity while decreasing environmental impact concerns.

You can listen to my interview with John here: ff-bio-08-miranowski.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation

Biotech Needed to Increase Biofuels

Chuck Zimmerman

David ZilbermanLike the first speaker on our program today here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference, our second speaker, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, says we need to increase agricultural productivity.

His talk was on the distributional effects of biofeuls and he had two conclusions. The first one is that biofuels make some people better off and some people worse off. Drivers are better off since they’re getting their fuel for about 15 cents less than if it didn’t have biofuels in it but consumers of food are worse off since the price of food is higher. He says that’s worse in developing countries where they’re seeing food prices 20 to 40 percent higher. This situation he says is causing political instability which will become an obstacle to the development of biofuels.

His second conclusion is that we have to increase productivity. He says that if we don’t we’re in real trouble. In order to increase agricultural productivity he says we must use biotechnology in all crops.

You can listen to my interview with David here: ff-bio-08-zilberman.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation, Food

Is There a Biofuel To Food Price Link?

Chuck Zimmerman

Michael WetzsteinThe first speaker here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk deals with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel. He’s one of 22 speakers on the program and all the talks are dealing with the biofuels issue. I’ll do my best to interview them all. So here we go.

Michael says that gas price volatility can be avoided with fuel diversification by blending renewable fuels with fossil fuels. That’s what his research shows. He also suggests that we could relax gas taxes and reduce the tariff on the importation of Brazilian ethanol.

Another part of his research is on food and fuel and to answer the question of “Is there a direct link between the volatility of ethanol production and the volatility of corn prices. His research has found that there is a link but not a persistent or long lasting one. In fact, in the long run he says there is no direct link.

The bottom line he says is to produce more food. After talking to Iowa corn growers last weekend, I can say that American farmers are certainly doing their best.

You can listen to my interview with Michael here: ff-bio-08-wetzstein.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Farm Foundation, Food

Learning The Impact of a Biofuels Transition

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Foundation ConferenceThe Farm Foundation conference, “Transition To A Bio Economy, Risk, Infrastructure and Industry Evolution” is underway here in Berkeley, CA. We’ll be hearing from a lot of people including quite a few presenting University research on the whole biofuels business.

This conference is part of a series of which this is part 3.

The Transition to a Bioeconomy series is designed to assess the impacts of the evolving bioeconomy on agriculture, the food system, and rural regions. The third conference in the series, to be Oct. 15-16 in St. Louis, will address environmental and economic development impacts. The first conference in the series examined the integration of agricultural and energy systems. The last conference in the series, slated for early 2009, will focus on the implications of a global bioeconomy.

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Ag Groups, Farm Foundation

Help Flooded Farmers in the Midwest

Laura McNamara

Willie Nelson is sending out pleas for help. He’s calling for donations to help family farmers that are being devastated by severe weather and flooding in the Midwest.

Severe weather in nine Midwestern states is devastating family farmers. Disastrous floods in Iowa and Wisconsin have hit farmers especially hard–more than 30 counties in Iowa alone have already been declared federal disaster areas. More areas are expected to be threatened by rising flood water in the next few weeks.

Farm Aid is working now with local farm groups, churches, and rural organizations to get emergency funds out quickly to flooded farmers. This week, we made our first grant of $10,000 to a local Iowa farm organization to provide emergency assistance to farmers in need right now.

Farm Aid has a long history of helping farm families survive disasters — but we need your donation to do it. Can you help by making a tax-deductible donation of $25, $100, $500, or $1,000?

When major disasters like this strike, desperate farmers and farm organizations call Farm Aid. With your help, Farm Aid can help by providing emergency funds for families to buy food and cover living expenses and by supporting emergency hotlines and organizations that provide legal, financial and emotional counseling to farm families in need.

Please make an emergency contribution to Farm Aid’s Family Farm Disaster Fund right now and we will rush your funds to the stricken area.

Stay Strong and Positive,

Willie Nelson

Ag Groups, Environment, Farming, Weather

Take a Seat at Farm Technology Days

Laura McNamara

Wisconsin’s largest outdoor farm show now has ample seating for attendees. As part of a lesson in mass production, Wrightstown High School Tech produced 50 park benches in one day. The benches will be used at the 2008 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days held July 15-17, 2008, at Country Aire Farms.

“These benches were hand made out of treated lumber – 2 x 6s and 5/4-inch deck boards,” explains Youth Committee Chair Marty Nackers. “The park benches will be used during Farm Technology Days for seating in the stage area of the Youth Tent.”

Each bench is for sale as a fund raiser for the Brown County show organizers. The cost is for $50 per bench and they must be picked up the last day of the show, Thursday, July 17, between 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Orders will be filled while supplies last and payment is due on or before July 10.

Those interested in ordering a park bench can download an order form from the 2008 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days web site. Click “Brown County,” then “Park Benches.”

Education, Farming

MobileDemand Outfits Dairy with Rugged Field PC

Laura McNamara

The technology behind farm machinery, such as tractors and sprayers, is continually becoming more streamlined with advances in computer and software innovation. So, why not livestock? MobileDemand is a rugged tablet PC manufacturer based out of Idaho and they’ve just put the power of the PC in the hands of the field staff at Wendell, Idaho’s Box Canyon Dairy.

MobileDemand says its partnership with ProfitSource enables dairy farms to bring both wireless computing and specialized DairyQuest software into the cattle pens, streamlining operations, saving time, and reducing error.

I spoke with MobileDemand CEO Matt Miller about how he found the agriculture industry to be optimal match for the rugged PC company. You can listen to my interview with Matt here.
06-08-miller-matt.mp3

MobileDemand also offers a video summary of its case study with Box Canyon Dairy. The video further illustrates how the tablet PC and DairyQuest Software have helped one dairy farm increase efficiency in both the breeding and health monitoring of its 8,000 cows. You can watch the video here:

Audio, Livestock, Technology, Video

Transition To A Cooler Climate

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s the scene at the DoubleTree at Berkeley Marina where I’ll be posting from the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio Economy, conference.

Berkeley is very pretty at sunset, especially if you’re on the water. It’s a lot cooler too. Right now it’s 53 degrees. That’s a big difference from the 86 degrees in KC, MO when I took off earlier today.

We’re going to be discussing biofuels over the next couple days and I’ll be posting pictures and interviews. If you would like to download the audio to use on your website or in your broadcast then feel free.

Ag Groups, Farm Foundation