When farmers are making money, they tend to spend it on better farm equipment. With grain prices higher and the biofuels business booming, the outlook is bright for farm machinery sales in 2007. According to a Reuters report, sales of farm equipment were disappointing last year despite the higher corn prices, but one industry analyst expects that to turn around …
Diamond Investment Opportunity
Meetings begin this week in Illinois to interest investors in the Diamond Ethanol plant at Charleston. Green Lion Bio-Fuels is the developer of the plant and others underway in Streator (Emerald Ethanol LLC), and Beardstown (Prairie Breeze Ethanol LLC). The meetings will offer interested farmers, landlords, and other off-farm investors an opportunity to buy shares in the Diamond Ethanol plant. …
Pacific Ethanol Announces Idaho Groundbreaking
Pacific Ethanol will soon begin construction on a 50 million gallon per year ethanol facility in Burley, Idaho according to a company announcement. The plant would be located mid-way between Boise and Salt Lake City, Utah and is expected to begin construction within the next thirty days. The Burley Idaho plant site is located on a parcel of 177 acres, …
Ethanol and Hydrogen Working Together
The Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota is leading a project to demonstrate the production of hydrogen at existing and future ethanol facilities in a unique, economical way, providing a near-term path toward a hydrogen economy. According to a center press release, the hydrogen produced could be used on-site in fuel cells to provide additional …
State of the Union Speculation
The anticipation is mounting for President Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address to be made on January 23. The media is already busy speculating about what the president will talk about, with stories out this week that global warming will be on the teleprompter, although the White House is denying reports that Bush will advocate mandatory emissions caps in …
Research to Work on Ethanol from Beet Pulp and Wheat Bran
Biotech firm Dyadic International, Inc. has joined with a consortium in Europe to work on producing ethanol from sugar beet pulp and wheat bran. According to a company release, the Florida-based company will be working on the research and development project with one of Europe’s leading producers of bioethanol, Royal Nedalco, and other partners funded by the Netherlands government. Jan …
First New Fuel Ships for Indy
The first tanker truck loaded with 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol to power this year’s IndyCar® Series left the Renova Energy plant in Torrington, Wyoming this week bound for Indianapolis. According to a release from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, the plant was contracted to supply approximately 120,000 gallons of the fuel to the IndyCar Series in 2007. Renova Energy …
New Server
Domestic Fuel is now on a new server, so we are having to re-post some stories that were done during the changeover. It may take a day or two before everything is operational on the site, so please bear with us. Thanks!
A Tale of Two Tortillas
There are two sides to the stories out this week about the increased cost of tortillas in Mexico, being blamed partly on increased demand for corn to be made into ethanol. One is that it will cause the poor in Mexico to go hungry because they can’t afford to pay more for the basic staple of their diet. The other …
Sorghum Growers Sweet on Ethanol
Other crop producers are reaping the benefits of higher corn prices driven by ethanol. Among them are the sorghum farmers, who are meeting this week in New Mexico. Brownfield Network’s Peter Shinn reports that ethanol was the focus of Monday’s general session at the National Sorghum Producers (NSP) annual meeting. NSP President Greg Shelor, a Kansas sorghum grower, told Brownfield …