Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa paid a visit to the World Food Prize breakfast on Friday morning to introduce the secretary of agriculture and make a few comments of his own about the importance of American agriculture in feeding the world, as well as honor his colleagues from the Senate, George McGovern and Bob Dole, who are this year’s …
More on Schafer at Farm Foundation
As promised, I’ve got some more material for you from Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, who addressed attendees of the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis, Mo. Schafer praised Farm Foundation’s long commitment to promoting the free-form type of discussion and debate we saw at this just-concluded conference of state and federal …
Credit Crisis Hot Topic at Farm Foundation Conference
The recent credit crisis in the country was certainly a hot topic of conversation at today’s Farm Foundation Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference here in St. Louis, Mo. Cole Gustafson, a biofuels economist with North Dakota State University, says the current credit issues is going to make financing any venture a challenge, but he says …
Schafer Tells Farm Foundation to Get Ready for Breakthroughs
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer has just finished addressing the folks attending the latest Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy Conference going on in St. Louis, Mo. Schafer reminded the crowd how hard the current administration has worked to promote the biofuels field in this country, and thus, how hard it had worked to help the farmers who are …
Transition to a Bioeconomy: Day Two
Back at it this morning at the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference in St. Louis, Mo. Today is another big day, as we’re hearing from another variety of speakers who bring a lot of different viewpoints to the table. Later this morning, we’ll hear from the financial side of the issues facing Rural …
Growing Jobs in a Growing Bioeconomy
How we develop rural jobs as the country moves to a bioeconomy was the latest subject tackled today at the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis. One of the key speakers during this session was USDA’s Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr, who talked about how we need to move forward …
Meeting the Environmental Challenges of Biofuels
A fascinating discussion this morning at the opening session of the Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts conference here in St. Louis. Speakers have included government and university experts who are presenting what challenges face the bioeconomy, especially on the environmental side of the issue. Kitty Smith with the USDA’s Economic Research Service and chair of the …
Alternatives Fuel Michigan Senate Race
With high gas prices cutting into motorists’ pocketbooks and Michigan’s auto industry, it’s no wonder that biodiesel, ethanol, wind and solar are figuring into the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Carl Levin and Republican Jack Hoogendyk. This story from MLive.com says the two have very different approaches on how to fix the energy crisis that has crippled the state: …
FEMA Buys Biodiesel Buses for New Orleans
New Orleans is getting some biodiesel buses… thanks to some money from the federal government. This press release from Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has given the city the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) $44 million to replace… and to upgrade… 204 buses and 31 vans that were destroyed by flooding during Hurricane Katrina: …
Ethanol in Focus at AEM Ag Executive Forum
Ethanol and biofuels in general were in the spotlight at a forum for agribusiness executives held this week in St. Louis by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. About 100 executives of farm equipment companies and other agribusinesses attended the one day event, which featured a number of presentations that focused on biofuels. Even those speakers who were addressing other topics …