Energy

By a 2 to 1 margin, the shareholders of Midwest Grain Processors last week approved a deal to sell majority ownership in their cooperative to Australian company Global Ethanol. Over 1,000 of the 1,300 members of the co-op in Lakota, IA turned out for the vote on Thursday. Dave Nelson, Midwest Grain Processors’ board chairman, told Agriculture Online “The turnout for the vote was unbelievable. It was better than a Presidential election turnout.” Not to mention more decisive. With 717 votes in favor and only 348 opposed, we probably won’t be hearing calls for a recount. However, those who were opposed to the deal remain opposed to the concept of foreign ownership in domestic fuel production. According to the Des Moines Register, “There wasn’t enough time to digest the information or investigate it thoroughly,” said Lennon Brandt, a farmer from Swea City. “I thought the vote might be close, but when people aren’t informed, they tend to trust the board.”
It’s the first time a foreign company has bought control of an ethanol co-op, but those in the industry believe the growth potential means it’s probably just the beginning.

USDA’s Prospective Plantings report out Friday says that farmers will plant five percent less corn acreage this year and seven percent more soybeans than a year ago – mainly because of higher fuel and fertilizer costs. So, what does that mean for ethanol production? Don Roose, an analyst with U.S. Commodities says “This puts the end users on notice like ethanol plants,” according to this article in AgricultureOnline. The Des Moines Register reports that Al Larson, who manages NEW Cooperative’s seed warehouse in Knierim, is skeptical about the report’s findings. “Our yields here the last three years have been just phenomenal,” he said. “I think it might go the other way. Ethanol demand, I think, is going to drive a lot of it. It’s everywhere you look.”
USDA’s estimate was well below what the trade was expecting – almost two million acres less than the low end estimate – so skepticism may be in order. And, as always, yields will largely depend on the weather, which is not predicable in any year. So, we just have to wait and see what really happens this year.

Two articles out of Australia talk about BP’s new ethanol plans announced this week – making it from wheat and animal fat. The Weekend Australian story, which actually was published tomorrow on the other side of the world, says BP “would be producing 200 million litres of biofuels within two years. More than half will be derived from tallow – the fat of cattle and sheep – which will be processed to extract ethanol. The ethanol will be mixed with normal petrol, allowing BP to market a blended fuel known as E10 throughout the country by 2008.” They will also be making it from wheat, according to this ABC news story, about 200,000 tonnes a year. Farmers Federation state president Trevor de Langrafft says the plant is a win for wheat farmers. “It’s great to hear such an initiative being developed in Western Australia,” he said.

Check out the MPH Blog to follow Dave on his hunt for ethanol around Chicago in a Tahoe. Dave wanted to find out more about the “magical blend of corn and gasoline called E85 (which) is either the answer to America’s dependence on foreign fuel or one big scam by farmers, depending on the blogs you read.” So, he got a new Flex Fuel Chevy Tahoe for a week of testing. He writes that he took a “Google Earth view of most of the surrounding E85 stations according to www.e85fuel.com. Note that only two are actually in the City of Chicago. So I’ll be checking out the wilds of the suburbs to see the commutability, price and mileage provided by E85 in the real world. The hunt is on.”

Pacific Ethanol is running behind with its annual report and its deal to sell stock to Bill Gates. According to a Reuters stock market report Friday, the company said its annual report will be late due to delays completing its audit. It expects to file the report by April 17. The company also said it will not close on Friday on the sale of $84 million in preferred stock to Gates’s investment vehicle Cascade Investment LLC, as had been planned. That deal was announced last December. The Cascade deal is supposed to close about the same time the annual report is due out.

Registration is now open for the 22nd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, June 20-23 in Milwuakee, Wisconsin. You read that right – 22 years. According to the website, the workshop began in 1985 in St. Louis with just 40 people in attendance and has increased to over 1,800 in 2005 representing 45 States, 6 Canadian provinces and nearly 30 countries around the world. BBI International runs the event which is designed to provide the ethanol industry with the latest information on technology, products, services, research and new ideas for improving production, product yields, and operations of an ethanol facility. Sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor information is also available on-line.