Ag and Food Summit Features SAF Discussion
Tim Obitts, Alder Renewables; Alan Weber, MARC-IV; Alex Menotti, LanzaJet
Alder Renewables CEO Tim Obitts says agriculture holds the key to the future for SAF. “You are above ground oil wells,” said Obitts. His company’s technology can utilize a range of sustainable woody residues, agricultural byproducts, and next-generation energy crops like miscanthus to produce SAF.
Alan Weber has been involved in the biodiesel industry for over 30 years and as founding partner of MARC-IV he is excited about innovative new oilseeds like pennycress, camelina, and brasica carinata. “Each of them very unique in how they fit in a grower’s rotation but also similar in that they help to improve soil health and the second in that those crops are being grown on acres otherwise not in production.”
LanzaJet VP of Government Affairs Alex Menotti says getting the GREET model updated to include climate smart agriculture practices is only half the battle right now for getting corn ethanol to qualify for SAF. “The other half is EPA updating their own rules to recognize the climate benefits of corn ethanol and do things like enable CCS (carbon capture and storage) which is a key enabler for alcohol-to-jet,” said Menotti, who also noted that the top legislative priority for the industry right now is getting the IRA tax credits extended.
Listen to some of their discussion here:
Agri-Pulse Summit SAF Panel One 31:11
Kevin Welsh, Airlines for America; Gene Gebolys, World Energy; Amelia DeLuca, Delta Air Lines; and Dr. Patrick Gruber, Gevo
World Energy has been in advanced biofuels for over 25 years and is now on the forefront of SAF. “Ultimately, biofuels want to fly and the reason is, that’s where you can get the best value,” said CEO Gene Gebolys. “As we work to establish this market, it won’t be a SAF market, it will be a decarbonization market.”
The GREET model remains key to making it work. “If we’re getting paid for carbon abatement and it’s a virtual attribute, how the heck do you measure it? That’s where the GREET model comes in,” said Gevo CEO Dr. Patrick Gruber. “We like real data, real science, measured, reported, verified. That’s what we have to get to.”
The Ag and Food Policy Summit was a function of Agri-Pulse Communications.
Listen to the panel:
Agri-Pulse Summit SAF Panel Two 29:26
National Ag Day Celebrated in DC
The 51st National Ag Day celebration took place in Washington D.C. Tuesday with groups gathering at USDA headquarters to recognize the individuals who feed, fuel, and clothe our nation and the world.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke in particular to the young people in attendance. “Every person who wakes up in the morning and doesn’t have to grow or harvest their own food gets to do that thanks to the small percentage of our population who work the land day in and day out,” Vilsack said. “You can choose to do whatever it is you want to do with your life because we delegated the responsibility of feeding our families and ourselves.”
2024 Ag Day Vilsack remarks 15:04
Ag Day is organized by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA), which is a nonprofit organization composed of leaders in the agriculture, food and fiber communities.
ACA Chair Jenni Badding, John Deere, says the Ag Day activities target student participation. “Each year we encourage 9th through 12th graders to submit video essays and this year the theme was ‘If you could talk to a farmer for two minutes,'” said Badding. “We had over 100 applicants and we ran the videos of the top three winners as part of the USDA event.”
Learn more about Ag Day in this interview.
2024 Ag Day Jenni Badding interview 2:59
A panel of students representing four different agricultural youth organizations spoke on the topic of “Agriculture: Growing the Climate for Tomorrow.”
Shelby Bashum, Southern Illinois Univ., Agriculture Future of America
Allison Walbrecht, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, National 4H
Kanyon Huntington, Iowa State University, National FFA
Anushka Tandon, Univ. of Maryland, Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS)
Other speakers at the event included American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, and Curt Blades with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
Agri-Pulse Celebrates 20th Anniversary
This week’s Agri-Pulse 2024 Ag & Food Policy Summit was a good time to celebrate the news organization’s 20th anniversary of shining light on farm and food policy.
Twenty years ago, the concept of an all-digital, paid subscription publication was almost unheard of in agricultural publishing. Agri-Pulse Editor and Founder Sara Wyant believed it was not only possible, but represented the future for high-quality journalism. Thanks to so many subscribers, advertisers and sponsors who also believed in the firm’s commitment to balanced reporting and trusted insights, Agri-Pulse has grown into the largest media company devoted to covering farm and food policy in Washington, D.C. and across the country.
“It was clear to me that we could serve people in agriculture with information about what is happening in Washington, D.C., and other parts of the country, and they can make their own decisions on how to advocate,” said Wyant.
Since 2004, Agri-Pulse has grown from a single, weekly newsletter to a full-time staff from coast-to-coast, developing daily online content, audio newscasts and interviews, daily digests of aggregated news articles on agricultural and energy topics, frequent webinars and special issues podcasts, three annual in-person policy summits, and a weekly video news program.
Many who attended the Ag and Food Policy Summit Monday had well-wishes for Agri-Pulse celebrating two decades. “Sara, let me use a couple minutes you would have used to introduce me to acknowledge the great work that you and Agri-Pulse have done over the last 20 years,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at the Summit. “It’s really phenomenal.”
Chuck Zimmerman caught up with several other long time Agri-Pulse fans to get their comments, including former Congressman Collin Peterson; NASDA CEO Ted McKinney; former NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, Strategic Conservation Solutions; Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta; Daren Coppock, Ag Retailers; Tim Trotter, Edge Dairy Cooperative; Tara Smith, Torrey Advisory Group; and Curt Blades, AEM.
Listen to what they had to say:
Agri-Pulse 20th anniversary comments 11:25
New USSEC Chair Sees Export Opportunities
During its annual meeting prior to Commodity Classic in Houston, the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) seated its new Board of Directors for 2024/2025, with Kansas farmer Lance Rezac, representing the United Soybean Board, elected to serve as chairman for the next year.
Rezac said with 150 people working in 82 countries, USSEC continues to promote U.S. soy and the advantages it brings to markets around the world.
“They need our protein. We want to be a reliable supplier. We want to let them know that we’ll be here,” said Rezac. “The U.S. has some advantages. We can store beans. We can ship them year-round. We do a lot of work with developing countries just to help them increase the protein available for their diets.”
Rezac said China continues to be an important market, but as demand there levels off and Brazil picks up their supply, the United States needs to diversify. He gave examples of places like Pakistan and Kenya where USSEC continues to build and sustain market share for U.S. soy.
Lance Rezac, USSEC Chairman, United Soybean Board, Onaga, Kansas
Classic24 Lance Rezac, USSEC Chairman 4:25
Senate Ag Committee Leaders Say Farm Bill is Possible
The Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee are still holding out hope for a new farm bill this year.
A Slido poll at the beginning of the Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit Monday showed more than 80 percent of attendees believed there would not be a farm bill this year. Ranking Member Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) said he hopes that is wrong. “If you talk to the average person in Congress, most members on both sides very much want to get a farm bill done,” said Boozman. “I know how important it is for rural America to give our farmers stability.”
Listen to his comments:
Agri-Pulse Summit Sen. Boozman 13:34
Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) stressed that the only way to get a farm bill is by building coalitions, not by pitting one title against another. “What does not work is playing politics of food assistance and nutrition against everything else in the farm bill,” said Stabenow.
The chairwoman noted that since coming to the Senate in 2001, she has worked on six bills, leading three of them. “Shoot me now!” she exclaimed. “The same fights come up every time and they never work. If we abandon the coalition, we don’t get a farm bill.”
Listen to her comments:
Agri-Pulse Summit Sen. Stabenow 24:00
Zeakal PhotoSeed Breakthrough Delivers Higher Energy Corn
ZeaKal today announces its groundbreaking PhotoSeed™ technology in corn, designed to improve the crop’s oil and sustainability profile without compromising yield or protein.
In first year replicated field trials, PhotoSeed increased corn oil composition by an average of 23 percent. PhotoSeed enhances a plant’s photosynthetic capacity, capturing more CO2 and sunlight. This additional carbon capture increases oil production without taking away the energy necessary to maintain modern yields. Despite tremendous demand, previous efforts to boost oil content without compromising yield have eluded agribusinesses. ZeaKal now introduces the first viable solution.
ZeaKal’s PhotoSeed hybrid corn, grown in collaboration with the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center in a glasshouse setting.
ZeaKal created the NewType model in 2022 to restore value across the soy supply chain. PhotoSeed corn follows that model’s success by expanding its partnership with Gro Alliance’s extensive germplasm collection, breeding program, and fully integrated seed production.
“Starting with the grower, our vision is to leverage trait technology and replicate our NewType model to ensure value creation and sharing across the entire supply chain,” said Chen.
PhotoSeed corn commercialization is expected in the 2027 growing season. For more information about ZeaKal and PhotoSeed technology, or to become part of the NewType model, visit zeakal.com.
Learn more in this interview with Chen:
Zeakal CEO Han Chen interview 10:55
Animal Ag News 3/18
Industry Ag News 3/18
Pivot Bio N-OVATOR™ Paying Off for Farmers
Pivot Bio and its sustainability program N-OVATOR™ generated a lot of interest at the recent Commodity Classic in Houston since they have paid over $6 million to growers for implementing better nitrogen management practices since launching in 2022.
This year, downstream companies participating in N-OVATOR™’s insetting partnerships made payments to reward Pivot Bio growers for their practice change following the 2023 harvest. “All of these downstream customers have sustainability goals they are trying to hit,” said Jim Kelly, Sustainability Programs Director for Pivot Bio, during an interview at Classic. “So what we do is take that data from the farmer cutting 30-40 pounds of nitrogen and replacing it with our microbe, document what that environmental benefit is, and we pass that down to the customer…they in turn incentivize and pay that farmer for that practice change.”
Kelly says their largest transaction to date was the sale of 100,000 nitrogen credits to a global food and beverage company. The credits from this transaction represent 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent that was avoided by over 450 farmers across 300,000 acres within the company’s supply shed. In total, the growers in this insetting partnership replaced over 10 million pounds of synthetic fertilizer.
Learn more in this interview –
Classic24 Jim Kelly, Pivot Bio 4:37