Each year during World Food Prize week, the Truth About Trade and Technology Global Farmer Roundtable brings farmers from all over the world to visit Couser Cattle Company in Nevada, Iowa. Owner Bill Couser not only produces cattle, he also grows plenty of corn on his operation and is a big proponent of ethanol as a means of getting the …
Tune in Live for Great RFS Debate
Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen is live right now on AgriTalk in a debate with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Kristina Butts over the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The Great RFS Debate is being co-hosted by Agri-Pulse. Dinneen is pictured here, left, as the debate begins. Next to Dinneen is AgriTalk host …
Renewable Fuel Standard Debate This Week
Representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) will be squaring off to debate on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) this week in Washington D.C. AgriTalk and Agri-Pulse will be hosting the debate via broadcast and the web on September 12 starting at 11:00 am Eastern time live from the Longworth Building, Room 1300. …
Impact of RFS on Agriculture
Increased ethanol production has been good for corn growers, bad for poultry producers, but has overall helped increase farm income to record levels according to some testimony given in a House hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) this week. “The Renewable Fuel Standard is doing exactly what it was intended to do,” said National Corn Growers Association President Pam …
Biodiesel Keeps U.S. Tallow at Home
The world is seeing less of American tallow as biodiesel makers turn more of the animal grease into the green fuel. This article from Bloomberg says U.S. tallow exports are expected to fall nearly 4 percent because the biodiesel market is squeezing the supply and keeping the price up: Tallow shipments from the U.S. may decline to 680,000 metric tons …
Beef Ranches as Biodiesel Refineries
The next set of biodiesel refineries will probably continue to be in rural America, but they might be part of livestock operations. This article from BeefProducer.com says Arkansas State University researcher Kevin Humphrey sees real potential for ranchers to produce their own biodiesel from oil seed crops, waste oil or tallow: “If all you want to do is extract oil …
USDA Renews Dairy Energy Pact
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack today renewed a historic agreement with U.S. dairy producers to accelerate the adoption of innovative waste-to-energy projects and energy efficiency improvements on U.S. dairy farms, both of which help producers diversify revenues and reduce utility expenses on their operations. The pact extends a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009. USDA support for agricultural and …
American Farm Bureau Supports RFS
Delegates for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) last week voted overwhelmingly to support continuation of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), despite the fact that membership in the organization includes a substantial percentage of livestock producers. “The livestock guys still have concerns about high feed costs, and I’m one of them, I’m a beef producer,” said AFBF president Bob Stallman. …
DF Cast: Biodiesel Helps Livestock Producers
We’ve known for quite a while that biodiesel is helping the bottom lines of feedstock producers, in particular, the nation’s soybean growers. But a new study from the National Biodiesel Board says livestock producers are also sticking more green in their pockets thanks to the green fuel. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we hear from the NBB’s …
RFA Reacts to RFS Decision
The president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) says they are very pleased with the decision today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reject a request to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In an interview immediately after the announcement was made by EPA, Bob Dinneen said he gave the agency credit for sticking to the science …