The third annual Cellulosic Ethanol Summit was held this week in Coral Gables, Florida and Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen was once again chairman of the summit. In this “Ethanol Report” podcast, Dinneen discusses a number of issues – including the race to commercialize cellulosic ethanol, the new administration, getting more flex fuel vehicles on the road, …
Florida Wants to Lead Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson believes that Florida can be a leader in the production of cellulosic ethanol. “Because of the amount of sunshine, water and year-round growth that we have for cellulose potential, I think Florida can lead the nation in this process,” Bronson said during the Cellulosic Ethanol Summit on Tuesday. Bronson was the keynote speaker at …
Ethanol Report on Land Use
In this “Ethanol Report” podcast, Geoff Cooper of the Renewable Fuels Association talks about a new land use report just released. The report systematically refutes claims that ethanol production will divert land from agricultural use, stressing that agricultural land can expand without “jeopardizing forest or other sensitive lands.” The report also gives historical context to global agricultural land use as …
New Ethanol Group Wants to Be Aggressive
The newly formed ethanol advocacy group, Growth Energy, has aggressive plans for attacking some of the major issues impacting the growth of biofuels. During an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting, Growth Energy board member Greg Krissek of ICM said they want to “especially focus on the federal work being done on mid-level and higher level …
Mr. Ethanol Looks To Future
Mr. Ethanol, Jeff Broin, CEO, POET is looking to the future and a new organization that will help open new markets for the renewable fuel. I spoke to Jeff at last week’s Project LIBERTY field day and asked him what he thinks about the results of our Presidential election. He says, “President-Elect Obama, is going to be I think very, …
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 …
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 …