The USDA Planted Acreage report out Monday was good news, although it does not yet reflect the damage from Midwest flooding. Corn planted area is reported to be 1.31 million acres more than was estimated in the March intentions report at 87.3 million acres, down just 7 percent from last year. That is the second highest since 1946, behind last …
New EPIC Board Member Calls for a Cohesive Ethanol Industry
Another representative of Fagen Incorporated has joined the ranks in the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Matt Sederstrom of Platinum Ethanol is a new board member, elected at EPIC’s first annual meeting earlier this month. Matt says he hopes to drive a solid cohesiveness in the ethanol industry, bringing more members and industry partners together for a common cause. “Now …
EPIC Board Embraces Veteran Experience with Ethanol
Gary Pestorious (pictured speaking with EPIC founder Ron Fagen) isn’t new to ethanol nor to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Gary was elected for another term as an EPIC board member at the organization’s first annual meeting. As a two year veteran with EPIC, one thing Gary stresses is EPIC’s role in the ethanol industry. He says EPIC is …
New EPIC Board Member Man of Many Hats
One of the newest board members of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is a man of many hats. Ray Defenbaugh is the CEO of Big River Resources, a company that’s based in Southeast Iowa. The company already operates a one 100 million gallon ethanol plant and another is under construction. But, Ray doesn’t just know ethanol production. He’s also …
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference Wrap Up
To wrap things up here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference I spoke with board member, Cornelius Gallagher. He says the conference brought together world class leaders who were able to listen to some fantastic presentations. I’ve posted interviews with almost all of them so please scroll back through them. Corny, as he likes to be …
What We Need To Know
What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having …
Chevron in Biofuels
We heard from Chevron here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference since according to Paul Bryan, the company has made a major commitment to biofuels. He says they created a biofuels business unit about 2 years ago. Their focus is on 2nd generation biofuels that use non-food crops. His talk focused on the integration in the biopetroleum business. …
Ethanol Investing Decline
The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture. In fact, he says the New York investment community is not interested in biofuels right now. …
More Bio Economy Research Needed
Our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics is Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture. He also talked …
Trucking Corn For Ethanol
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks …