The USDA Planted Acreage report out Monday was good news, although it does not yet reflect the damage from Midwest flooding. Corn planted area is reported to be 1.31 million acres more than was estimated in the March intentions report at 87.3 million acres, down just 7 percent from last year. That is the second highest since 1946, behind last …
Ethanol Plant Site Selection
Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants. His work focused on the location determinants that attract potential plants in certain areas. He …
Having a Positive Impact on Rural Communities
One of our speakers here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference brought the discussion down to the farm level. John Miranowski, Iowa State University, spoke about the impact of biofuels on the rural economy and the farm structure. He says that their numbers indicate that increasing biofuels production will have a positive impact on rural communities and farm …
Driving Agricultural Productivity
Monsanto was represented at this morning’s ethanol press conference at the Iowa Speedway by Troy Hobbs, Corn Biofuels Strategy Lead. He started his comments explaining that the company’s mission is to drive productivity in the agricultural sector. He spoke to how quickly they’ve been able to increase the per acre yield in corn with their research on seed and traits. …
Iowa Corn Growers Optimistic
Just a few minutes ago I got interviewed by one of the journalists here and he asked what I had heard from corn growers who are at the track. I told him they’re very proud to be growing the fuel that’s being used in the IndyCars out here and that they’ll recover from the flooding problems they’ve been having. Representing …
Using All The Corn And Making Ethanol
One of the speakers at the ethanol industry press conference here at Iowa Speedway this morning was Mike Sobestski, Vice President/COO, LifeLine Foods. Besides talking about the company he also explained how they use various parts of a corn kernel to make food and fuel. An interesting point he made was that the part they use to make ethanol is …
New Ethanol Products
While Cindy and thousands of people involved in ethanol production are attending the FEW in Nashville, I thought I’d share an interview I did at the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. While we’re focused on ethanol as a fuel and that seems to be its primary use, some research is being done on other products ethanol can be used …
25 Stations to Offer E85 Discount in Iowa
In celebration of the Iowa Corn Indy 250, E85 will be sold at a discount at 25 location on Thursday, June 19. This promotion will take place at 15 Kum & Go stations and 10 additional stations throughout the state. Kum & Go will discount E85 at the following locations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
New Era for Ethanol Production
The ethanol plant of the future will produce both fuel and food with new technology from ICM, Inc. “ICM has been working on this technology for the last 3-5 years,” said ICM president Dave Vander Griend. “We felt that this was a good time to roll it out in light of the food and/or fuel controversy.” Vander Griend says their …