Corn growers were happy to have their day in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Tuesday for VeraSun Energy Corporation but the outcome was not favorable. As expected, bankruptcy law and the ruling will allow VeraSun to reject any contracts that are economically disadvantageous to VeraSun, including corn growers’ contracts. According to National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Chairman Ron Litterer of Iowa, they …
Biofuels Part of Policy Summit
The Food and Agriculture Policy Summit, co-hosted by Farm Foundation and Farm Journal Media this week is focusing on the wide range of domestic and global issues facing the food system and agriculture today, including biofuels. The summit kicks off today with the Farm Journal Forum on “What Will Change Bring? Impacts of a New Congress and Administration in the …
Indy Ethanol Fallout
Several different groups are pressuring the Indy Racing League to rethink its decision to partner with Brazil for ethanol to fuel the Indy Car Series. Among them is a conservative, free market group called American Future Fund (AFF) which launched a radio ad which urging Hoosiers and others to call the IRL and tell them to continue using American ethanol …
Cellulosic Ethanol Company Changes Name
There is something new under the sun. Massachusettes-based SunEthanol has changed its name to Qteros, after its Q microbe technology, which may be a key to commercializing cellulosic ethanol. The company has raised $25 million from a diverse group of investors in a Series B round of financing. Among the investors are British Petroleum (BP) and a management group led …
Indy Defends Ethanol Choice
The Brazilian ethanol industry will remain the fuel sponsor of the Indy Racing League in 2009, but the ethanol will come from the United States – at least for the first year. That is a compromise of sorts announced by IRL after meeting with corn ethanol industry representatives. The multi-year partnership between the IndyCar Series and APEX-Brasil — a trade …
Farm Foundation to Release Report on Feeding and Fueling the World
Our friends at Farm Foundation are set to release a report next week on the challenges agriculture and the food system face in providing food, fiber and energy to a growing world over the next 30 years. The report will come out next Thursday, Dec. 4th as part of Farm Foundation’s Food and Agriculture Policy Summit, Dec. 2-4th at the …
Biofuels to Provide Houston Green Power
A Texas-based renewable energy company is taking over an abandoned electrical plant with plans to run the generators on green energy sources. This press release posted on MarketWatch.com says Biofuels Power Corporation will purchase the site, infrastructure and equipment of the decommissioned H.O. Clarke Electric Generating Station in central Houston: The operational infrastructure on the H.O. Clarke site includes 65,000 …
Corn Growers Unhappy With VeraSun Contracts
Thousands of corn growers from across the Midwest could potentially have their contracts with ethanol producer VeraSun rejected, including the chairman of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). NCGA chairman Ron Litterer of Iowa and others have filed a formal objection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware regarding the proposed disposition of corn contracts by VeraSun Energy Corporation, which …