Arlan Suderman is a market analyst for Farm Futures magazine. He was on the program at the BASF “Science Behind Plant Health” symposium at Commodity Classic in Tamp, FL yesterday. Arlan’s spoke about the ethanol wave and addressed the opportunities and the pitfalls that he sees coming. He shares a lot of information about how people are investing in the …
Ready for the Show
The 2007 Commodity Classic is underway in Tampa, Florida and biofuels are most definitely in the spotlight. From the policy making meetings for corn, soybean and wheat growers, to the informational sessions, to the trade show the influence of the energy business in agriculture dominates. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has a brand spanking new booth set up …
Energy Department Awards Cellulosic Grants
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded cellulosic ethanol grants to help with the construction of cellulosic ethanol biorefineries. The Renewable Fuels Association released the full list of grant recipients. Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri, up to $76 million for a proposed plant in Kansas to use 700 tons per day of corn stover, wheat straw, …
UN Panel Recommends Increased Biofuels Use
The United Nations Foundation has released a report outlining a “roadmap for reducing risks from climate change.” Among the report’s recommendations are “mproving efficiency in the transportation sector through measures such as vehicle efficiency standards, fuel taxes, and registration fees/rebates that favor purchase of efficient and alternative fuel vehicles” and “expanding the use of biofuels through energy portfolio standards and …
Broin Receives Energy Department Grant
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the awarding of grants to fund six cellulosic ethanol projects nationwide. Among them is Broin Companies’ $200 million expansion of a conventional corn dry mill facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa into a bio-refinery that will include production of cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs, according to a Broin release. Energy Secretary Samual Bodman made the …
Arkansas Legislature Moves Forward on Alt Fuels Incentives
The Arkansas State Legislature’s Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development today approved a measure that will provide $20 million in incentives for alternative fuel development. The Pine Bluff (AR) Commercial reports in this story (about halfway down) that House Speaker Benny Petrus’ bill would split the money with $16 million going to companies to develop the fuels and …
Filling Up on Aquanol
An Idaho inventor/entrepeneur has come up with an engine that runs on aquanol… a mix of 65% ethanol and 35% water. In addition, a diesel engine modified by Mark Cherry, with Automotive Resources, Inc. of Sandpoint, Idaho can run on a 50-50 mix of diesel and water. Cherry says it is a precision-timed catalytic glow plug, which he calls a …
Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit
Top state officials will keynote the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Summit on Wednesday in Des Moines. The event will feature the latest news in Iowa’s biodiesel and ethanol industries with a keynote address by Iowa Governor Chet Culver and a special address by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. Iowa is the leader in renewable fuels production with 26 ethanol …
Sunshine State Energy Grants
The state of Florida has announced grants for a number of renewable energy projects using various types of biomass. Here are just a few of the projects being funded for 2007: Citrus Energy LLC, “Fuel Ethanol Production from Citrus Waste Biomass” ($2.5 million): Based in Clewiston, the company will construct a four-million-gallon-per-year ethanol bio-refinery to use citrus waste to produce …
Ethanol Drives Farmland Prices
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s latest AgLetter reports that ethanol is helping to fuel a surge in agricultural land prices. According to the report, the 2006 annual increase in farmland values was 9 percent for the Seventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Iowa and parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The area with the biggest rise was northwest …