The issue of food versus fuel was a topic of discussion among international agricultural journalists visiting Austria this past week.
The group of 250 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists members representing nearly 20 countries was led by former commissioner of agriculture for the European Union Franz Fischler, a native Austrian. Fischler called the food versus fuel controversy “unfair.”
“They don’t differentiate between food price and agriculture price and the agriculture price is usually only a small component of the final food product,” Franz Fischler said during an interview about biofuels production in Austria.
Fischler says second generation biofuels will be key in meeting long term renewable fuels goals for all countries, but it has to start with first generation ethanol from corn. “That’s why we have to start now,” he added.
Austria has ten biodiesel plants but so far only one ethanol plant.
Listen to Fischler’s interview on biofuels in Austria here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ifaj/ifaj-08-fischler-ethanol.mp3]
The president of the Austrian Chamber of Forestry and Agriculture Gerhard Wlodkowski commented on the issue during his welcome address to the journalists. He noted that consumers in Austria are complaining about the increase in food prices, but they “don’t consider that in the year 1970 in Austria everybody spent 33 percent of their income for food and today they spend only 13 percent of their income.”
Wlodkowski said the production of crops for energy is not the reason for higher food prices and, like farmers here in the United States, he says Austrian farmers are quite capable of producing both food and fuel. “The main task of agriculture in Austria will continue to be food but we can still grow the energy crops and that is our motto here,” he concluded.
Listen to Wlodkowski’s translated comments on the topic here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ifaj/ifaj-08-food-fuel.mp3]
“We have clearly seen a positive impact since the biodiesel tax incentive was enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004,” Feraci stated. “Not only has there been an increase in jobs, biodiesel has proven to be a viable energy alternative which is environmentally friendly. Continuing this incentive will take the nation one large step closer to energy independence,” Feraci continued.
Earlier this week at the new, green NBB building grand opening ceremony in Jefferson City, Mo., Missouri Congressman Kenny Hulshof made the case why the biodiesel industries needs the incentives. He explained that it’s the only way to level the playing field with the petroleum industry that has been the benefactor of tax breaks for decades… even as it enjoyed record profits.
A handful of students at Washington State University are trying to take their energy future into their own hands. While the WSU Biodiesel Club only got about 10 members at their first meeting this week, organizers hope that the student-run operation soon will be producing 200 gallons of the green fuel a day. 
During this week’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new National Biodiesel Board building in Jefferson City, those in attendance included local and state officials and nine members of the Board from around the country.
Oklahoma might be famously known for its “winds that come sweepin’ down the plains,” and one of the leading universities in the state is going to put that to work.
“It is our patriotic duty as Americans to help our country achieve energy independence,” Boren said at a news conference at OU. “We should become a national role model for the environment.”
This week, Belgian professor and so-called United Nations “expert” Olivier de Schutter tried to blame the rise in food prices on biofuels. But Jobe fought back with the best weapon available: 
While the soaring price of oil is overwhelmingly recognized as the major factor driving food price increases, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel have had a marginal effect on the increase in food prices in the U.S. – about four to five percent – according to the U.S. Department of Energy and the USDA.
Jenna Higgins Rose, the friendly communications director at NBB, gave me the “nickel tour” (although it didn’t cost a dime!) of their new digs. That’s Jenna on the right, showing me the new conference room with a state-of the art video conferencing system with the NBB’s office in Washington, DC (that’s a picture of the DC office on the screen). This is just one example of how the good folks at NBB are really practicing what they preach. Doing a conference over a video conference saves them not only thousands of dollars and many hours of travel time, but they greatly reduce their carbon footprint by not burning the fuel needed to fly to the various locations that this truly national organization covers.
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“The goal is to determine the best crop management, storage and handling practices for Georgia, and just as important, the performance of herbaceous biomass in Range Fuels’ conversion process,” said Anna Rath, Ceres vice president of commercial development. She noted that grass species, including both annuals and perennials, can provide a flexible and reliable supply of raw materials for fuel and power. “This is an important step in demonstrating that energy crops can be successfully and sustainably grown in the area surrounding the Range Fuels Soperton Plant site,” she said.