How do you keep an expected world population of 9 billion people by the year 2050 fed AND meet the world’s energy needs? Our friends at Farm Foundation are taking on those challenging questions, hopefully with some good answers through their new blog, AgChallenge2050.org. “It’s an opportunity for more people to be involved in the conversation,” said Mary Thompson, Farm …
Energy Version 2.0 Website Revealed
USDA has revealed an updated version of its Energy website, launched in January 2012. The site now provides additional resources, new reporting features and investment data current through August of this year. The website is co-linked with several other USDA initiatives include their Energy Investment Maps, Renewable Energy Tool, Energy Matrix and Investment Project Reports. Some of the enhanced features of …
Field to Fryer to Fuel
Here is a new twist on an old idea: rather than simply recycling used cooking oil into biodiesel, a new initiative will locally grow canola, press the seeds into oil, deliver to local restaurants, pick up the used oil, and then repurpose it into biodiesel. The pilot project, known as Field to Fryer to Fuel (F3) received a $130,000 grant …
Students Rock Ethanol
High school senior Jason Girouard from Brimfield, Massachusetts has won the Ethanol Rocks video contest sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association. Girouard was awarded $1,500. Freshman Emily Yue from Gilford, Connecticut and senior Lewis Kloster of Minneapolis, Minnesota were both awarded second-place honor and $500 a piece. “The purpose of the contest was to get youth interested in learning …
Time to Vote
I voted. Have you? It really is a civic duty and I hope you’ll take the time today to get it done. I’m not writing this to encourage you to vote for a certain person or issue. Hopefully you will have become familiar with the issues in your state and know what to do. As far as the Presidential race, …
Calculator Gives Growers Energy Crop ROI
University of Illinois agricultural economists have been calculating the costs for farmers to produce biomass energy crops, and as a result have created a feedstock cost and profitability calculator for farmers to make their own assessments using their individual agribusiness parameters. Illinois Ag Economist Madhu Khanna says farmers can customize the costs based on their current farming operation, current returns on the …
SG Biofuels Breakthrough
SG Biofuels has expanded it global network of hybrid trial and agronomic research sites with the addition of eight new JMAX Knowledge Centers located in Brazil, Guatemala and India. The company is also expanding it production facility in Guatemala. Current trials are underway in San Diego, California. The company focuses on the the production of Jatropha for use in biofuels, …
Economist Bruce Johnson To Address NEB Meeting
Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln, Dr. Bruce Johnson, will be addressing the attendees of the Nebraska Ethanol Board (NEB) meeting tomorrow, October 30, 2012 at 10:00 am CDT at the University of Nebraska East Campus Union in Lincoln. He will be discussing the recently released “2010 Economic Impact of the Nebraska Agricultural Production Complex.” The report focuses on the …
Internationalists Share Views On US Competitiveness
During the recent 2012 Export Exchange a few key leaders in the international market took the stage in a panel to share their perception on United States competitiveness in grain production. Adel Yusupov, Southeast Asia Regional Director for US Grains Council, served as the moderator for the panel. Panelists consisted of: Willis Wu-Yeh Cheng, Chairman, Charoen Pokphand (Taiwan) Mousa Wakila, …
Green Plains Renewable Energy to Sell Grain Elevators
Green Plains Renewable Energy has entered into an asset purchase agreement to sell 12 grain elevators located in northwestern Iowa and western Tennessee to The Andersons The sale involves approximately 32.6 million bushels, or 83%, of the Company’s reported agribusiness grain storage capacity and all of its agronomy and retail petroleum operations. The estimated sales price for the facilities and …