With the unofficial start of summer, there’s no doubt you’ll be at picnics, reunions, get-togethers, etc., and there’s a pretty good chance that if you’re involved in ethanol, there’ll be somebody wanting to debate its merits… or more specifically, its evils. This article from Ethanol Producer Magazine relates a conversation the managing editor had on how corn ethanol is not …
Corn Growers Fight AAA Stance on Ethanol
The Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) is fighting back at AAA for disparaging the state’s recent action allowing the retail sale of 15% ethanol blended gasoline (E15). MCGA CEO Gary Marshall took AAA to task in a letter to the organization’s president and canceled his longtime membership following public statements misrepresenting the benefits of E15. A St. Louis Post Dispatch …
Ethanol Groups Participate in China Trade Mission
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse led a mission to promote U.S. agricultural exports in northeast China May 5-13. The mission is part of President Obama’s “Made in Rural America” export and investment initiative, designed to help rural businesses and leaders take advantage of new investment opportunities and access new customers …
Group Looks to Expand Ethanol By-Product’s Market
A group representing grain producers’ interests is looking to expand the market for a popular ethanol by-product. The U.S. Grains Council says it is looking to the south, Middle East and Southeast Asia to expand on American distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), already chalking up 9.7 million metric tons – valued at $2.9 billion – exported in 2013 to …
Biodiesel Adds Value, Diversification to Ethanol Ops
It’s not a brand new idea, but the concept of co-locating ethanol and biodiesel plants has been catching on more and more lately. This article from Biodiesel Magazine talks about how ethanol refiners are looking to take their by-product, distillers corn oil (DCO), and turn it into biodiesel to add value to those ethanol plants already on the ground, while …
USDA Predicts Another Record Corn Crop
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its initial assessment of the nation’s corn crop for the coming year on Friday, calling for another record based on the March 31 Prospective Plantings report. Corn production is projected at 13.9 billion bushels, up slightly from the 2013/14 record with higher expected yields more than offsetting the year-to-year reduction in planted area. The …
Evolving Distillers Grains: Take the Survey
Iowa State University is looking at how the use of distillers grains have changed in the United States over the past several years. Interested growers are invited to participate in a survey currently being conducted by Iowa State University Assistant Professor Dr. Kurt Rosentrater. The survey findings will create a better overall picture of the roll distillers grains play in …
2012 Ag Census Includes Renewable Energy
The 2012 Census of Agriculture shows a doubling of on-farm renewable energy production since 2007. According to the census data released by USDA today, there were 57,299 farms that produced on-farm renewable energy in 2012, more than double the 23,451 in 2007. By far the biggest was solar panels, used on over 36,000 farms. Geoexchange systems and wind turbines each …
DF Cast: Fuels America Fights Back with “Oil Rigged”
Backers of renewable fuels say when it comes to the fight against Big Oil, the fight is rigged… oil rigged. Recently, Fuels America held a pair of news conferences. The first was to announce the launch of its “Oil Rigged” television and digital ad campaign and OilRigged.com, designed to “expose the many ways the oil industry is rigging the system …
EPA and USDA Dispute Corn Stover Study
Two federal agencies joined the biofuels industry last week in seriously questioning the results of a University of Nebraska study that claims negative greenhouse gas emissions impacts in using corn stover for ethanol production. A statement by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Liz Purchia about the report noted problems with “hypothetical assumption that 100 percent of corn stover in a …