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A Malaysian company is building what it says is the world’s first plant to commercially produce ethanol from nipah palm trees.

The Associated Press reports that Pioneer Bio Industries Corp. Sdn. Bhd. is building the plant in northern Perak state to extract ethanol from the sap of the nipah tree, scientifically known as Nypa fruiticans and found in abundance in Malaysia’s coastal areas.

The first plant, costing 1.4 billion ringgit ($398 million), will have a capacity to process 140 million gallons of ethanol per year. It is expected to be operational at end-2008, Badrul Shah told reporters.

Read more from the Associated Press and from Bloomberg.

The new chairman of the House Agriculture Committee made his first official appearance outside Washington at the South Dakota Corn Growers Association annual meeting Saturday, telling farmers that ethanol produced from corn and from new feedstocks such as switchgrass will be one of the forces driving a new farm bill in Congress.

“I tell farmers, in 10 years, you’re going to be growing 25 percent switchgass,” Peterson said.

Also addressing the corn growers was South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune who told the group that developing new feedstocks for ethanol should help the industry grow in other areas. “Corn ethanol is fine,” he said. The challenge for Congress: “Don’t screw it up.”

Read more from the Argus (SD) Leader.

The demand for corn to make ethanol is expected to keep growing, which is creating challenges for livestock producers.

Both farmers and ranchers are meeting this week in Salt Lake City for the 88th American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting and biofuels has already been the main topic of discussion.

Calling ethanol a “bull on the loose,” USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins told producers that the next three to four years will be a critical period of adjustment in both the ethanol industry and the livestock industry because of higher feed prices.

Collins says that we can expect to see growth in corn yield per acre, more corn acreage, higher corn prices, the development of new economically feasible feedstocks and products replacing some corn or meal in feed.

“Dried distillers grains (DDGs) have to improve in quality and be more easily digested,” he said.

However, demand for biofuels is expected to lead to lower revenues for livestock producers this year, according to AFBF livestock economist Jim Sartwelle and other industry experts who addressed the conference.

“All protein producers are going to face a challenging year in 2007 when it comes to increasing feed costs,” said Sartwelle. “We are sure to see producers limiting the size of their production capacities because it just doesn’t pay to keep animals around with $3.50-per-bushel corn.”

Farm Bureau representatives will be making policy decisions this week, the “marching orders” for the organization this year, and resolutions concerning biofuels are on the docket.

Read more from the Farm Bureau meeting:
AFBF website
Highlights from AgWeb
Libby Quaid, Associated Press

Georgia’s first ethanol plant broke ground this week in Mitchell County.

First United Ethanol, LLC – or FUEL, as it is better known – has been in the works for almost two years, according to chairman Murray Campbell, who says they will import corn from the midwest to produce ethanol initially.

“Even though our facility in the corn belt, we have a viable plan to meet our supply needs to operate a 100 million gallon facility by bringing in corn on rail shipment, and hopefully over time to encourage local production.”

Campbell thinks that within 5-7 years they will be able to supply the plant locally, “which will be a huge benefit to our row crop farmers in southwest Georgia.”

The company hopes to have the plant on-line by Spring of 2008.

U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss attended the groundbreaking Wednesday along with hundreds of other dignitaries and well-wishers.

Read more from the Moutrie Observer and Dow Jones.

Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, held a press conference with reporters Thursday to warn that the government is underestimating the amount of corn that will be needed for fuel by next year.

According to the Associated Press, Brown says nearly twice as much corn as the government has estimated will be needed from the 2008 harvest to feed the ethanol plants that will be online by then. He blamed the lag on the failure of industry trade groups to keep up with development of ethanol plants.

According to the Earth Policy Institute’s data, U.S. ethanol distilleries now online or in the works will pull an estimated 139 million tons – or 5.5 billion bushels – of corn from the 2008 corn harvest to produce fuel for automobiles.

The government in a February report estimated ethanol plants would use about 60 million tons – or 2.4 billion bushels of corn.

USDA’s chief economist is skeptical about the institute’s numbers and the Renewable Fuels Association questions the criteria used by Earth Policy Institute, saying some plants in planning stages included in the group’s estimates may never be built. Both say that the rapid expansion in the industry is making it more difficult to make even short term projections.

Brown’s answer is for the U.S. government to declare a moratorium on the construction of new ethanol plants until the impact of increased corn usage can be determined.

Read the full story from AP.