Former Secretary of Agriculture John Block recently was named to the board of directors for California-based potential cellulosic ethanol company AE Biofuels, Inc. “AE Biofuels has a winning strategy and a strong management team. The company’s patent-pending cellulosic ethanol plant in Montana is producing ethanol from agricultural waste, and its 50 million gallon biodiesel facility in India is supplying large …
Case IH Collecting Cobs
When it comes to harvesting equipment for Case IH, Scott Acker is who you want to talk to. He’s their Director, Harvesting Marketing. I spoke with him at POET’s Project LIBERTY field day right after he answered a bunch of questions from farmers who were attending. Sam says POET approached them with the idea of collecting cobs to make ethanol …
Farm OEM’s Developing New Equipment
The Director of Business Development for POET is Scott Weishaar. He was the guy who told us about the various equipment options on display at their Project LIBERTY field day. That’s because he works directly with the farm OEM’s. He says the response from the OEM’s is phenomenal. There are several systems already being tested and they should be available …
Big Equipment Finance Options
Someone had to provide assistance to get all this big machinery to the POET Project LIBERTY field day last week. That someone was MachineryLink, represented by Landon Morris, Vice President, Marketing. Landon says they’re in the business of leasing late model combines and that they heard about the project a year ago. So what they’re doing is leasing machines directly …
This Farmer Likes Idea of Corn Cob Ethanol
When you’re attending a farm event it’s always nice to get a farmer’s perspective on things. That’s what I did at the POET Project LIBERTY field day when I spoke with Todd Mathisen who farms just east of Emmetsburg, IA. I asked him what he thought of POET’s idea to harvest corn cobs for cellulosic ethanol production. He said, “I …
Ethanol Conversations
The executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) recently unveiled her new blog, Ethanol Conversations. Toni Nuernberg’s site focuses on spurring conversations and debates on the continued growth of ethanol in the United States and around the world. EPIC is also utilizing new media in other ways, including a page on Facebook, and a YouTube channel featuring …
Corn Cob Harvesting Will Be Economical
The Director of Project LIBERTY for POET is Jim Sturdevant. He oversees all the activities across the company that are “pulling together to transform this ethanol plant into one of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol plants.” The plant he’s referring to is POET’s Emmetsburg facility where they held a field day yesterday. He says they intend to replicate what they’re …
Deere Designing Corn Cob Harvest Equipment
There are several farm equipment manufacturers working with POET on corn cob harvesting solutions. One of them is John Deere. Of the current options for harvesting/collecting the cobs, Deere is working on the corn cob mix kit (CCM) option. It’s basically an attachment to the combine according to John Deere’s Barry Nelson, who was attending the POET Project LIBERTY field …
Patriot Ethanol is Processor Preferred
Illinois’ newest ethanol plant adds to a growing list of facilities that are part of the Monsanto Processor Preferred Network. Patriot Renewable Fuels CEO Gene Griffith says they hope to use as much corn as possible from local farmers to produce ethanol at the new 100 million gallon per year plant. “We will need approximately 215,000 acres worth of corn …