AgriNews of Minnesota reports that Ford is “returning to its origins with its interest in ethanol.”
In 1907, ethanol was the primary fuel for Ford vehicles because it was the most widely available fuel, said Ron Westby, director of public policy for Ford Motor Company, speaking at last week’s Agri-Growth Council annual meeting.
Ford switched to gasoline after the Volstad Act outlawed alcohol in 1918, Westby said, because then gasoline was more readily available.
Read the story here.
Scripps News has a feature on ethanol fever in the Heartland, focusing on Heron Lake, Minn.
Ethanol mania is sweeping through Heron Lake and many towns like it across the Corn Belt. Investors are spending billions in rural communities, sparking a wild rush to secure land, an industry movement to alter environmental standards and a rash of fierce bidding by communities desperate for their own plant.
Two decades after farmers began mashing their corn into ethanol, the clear, odorless liquid is seen by many as the best chance for America to lessen its dependence on foreign oil.
Read the story here.
Ten truckers will be driving a million miles over the next two years to study and promote the benefits of soy biodiesel.
The Iowa Soybean Association, Decker Trucking Lines, Inc., the National Biodiesel Board, Caterpillar Inc., Iowa Central Community College, Renewable Energy Group and the USDA have partnered to support this study.
The study will use a biodiesel mix of 20% soy biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel. Trucks using both biodiesel and traditional diesel will run identical routes and carry the same weight, and researchers will measure fuel mileage, engine wear, and other data.
Read more here.
SRI Consulting recently released its new Biodiesel Report that provides comprehensive and current information on the global biodiesel industry and trends.
According to an SRI news release:
Author and Vice President at SRIC Ralf Gubler said, “Over the last year, the biodiesel industry has changed dramatically. For example, the average biodiesel plant in Western Europe produced about 40 thousand metric tons last year. In 2006, the average capacity is expected to be 100 thousand metric tons. Also, other regions are planning to have the same capacity within two years.”
The report provides in depth coverage on supply and demand, feedstock issues, production technologies, and regulatory, environmental and agricultural issues for over 60 individual countries. In over 500 pages and 280 tables, the report details 15 years of historical and five years of projected supply/demand figures on a country-by-country level.
For additional information about the Biodiesel Report, see www.sriconsulting.com.
The third annual Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit is coming up December 10 – 12 in Banff Springs, Alberta, Canada.
The summit is hosted by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association and features a number of important speakers including:
The Hon. Lorne Calvert,
Premier of Saskatchewan
Lorne Hepworth, President,
CropLife Canada
Barb Isman, President,
Canola Council of Canada
Lionel LaBelle,
Saskatchewan Ethanol Development Council
Gord Surgeoner, President,
Ontario Agri Food Technologies
Dave Vander Griend, President and CEO,
ICM Inc.
Dave Paterson, V.P Corporate and Environmental Affairs,
General Motors Canada
The Chicago Board of Trade has announced plans for two new over-the-counter (OTC) Ethanol Calendar Swap contracts.
The new products, which will include contracts for both forward and previous month calendar swaps, will be based on the price of CBOT Ethanol futures contracts. Scheduled to be introduced on December 4, 2006, CBOT Ethanol Swap contracts are the first exchange-cleared OTC products to be specifically tailored for use in the ethanol industry.
Two Boulder, Colorado residents are on a mission to promote E-85 by bus.
Self-described dedicated environmentalists Jason and Tracey Keeley have “organized Buy the Bus to fund an eight-month tour of key locations in the United States, during which they will spread the word about E85.”
Tracey and Jason’s combined passion for the great outdoors has culminated in Buy the Bus, an advertising campaign designed to help spread the word about E85. Starting in April of 2007, Jason and Tracey will tour the United States for eight months, educating the American people about ethanol fuel. The Volkswagon Bus they will use will also be converted so that it can run on E85, which Jason and Tracey will use religiously.
Buy the Bus allows businesses to buy advertisement space on the Volkswagen Bus in which they will make the trip. The bus will see about 8,000 miles of highway, guaranteeing broad exposure for the advertisements it carries with it. Additionally, the ads will remain on the Buy the Bus website, as well as the real bus, for three years. Advertising space costs $1 per pixel, sold in blocks of 100, which translates to 3” by 3” blocks on the real bus.
Read more here and at BuytheBus.com.
A Georgia Farm Bureau committee adopted a proposal to cut the sales tax on the sale and production of ethanol and biodiesel (see previous post) to present to the membership in its December meeting.
Seventeen states have reduction or elimination of sales and use motor fuel taxes for ethanol and/or biodiesel, according to information from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. Many states offer packages of tax credits, grants, loans, and rebates to producers and users.
See Georgia Ag Department press release for more.
The job of lieutenant governor is rarely noticed, but when the running mate of the challenger in the Minnesota governor’s race appeared to show ignorance of ethanol this week, the current holder of the position did get some attention.
And no one can say that Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau is ignorant when it comes to ethanol. As a corn farmer from near New Ulm, part of Molnau’s income depends on the renewable fuel, according to this story from the Austin Daily Herald.
Molnau, who farms with her husband east of New Ulm, said during a campaign visit to Austin Friday that they finished harvesting their corn last week, and that some of their yield will be going into ethanol.
“The best part of E-85 is there’s a lot of demand for the corn,” Molnau said, which drives prices paid to farmers up. “This morning my husband told me the delivery price is $2.81, and that’s what E-85 has done for rural Minnesota.”
Here’s another story on Molnau from the Albert Lea Tribune.
The Wall Street Journal reports on the rising price of corn due to ethanol production.
The price for corn — the nation’s No. 1 crop and one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in the American food supply — has jumped nearly 55% since mid-September, when U.S. corn farmers began harvesting their third-biggest crop ever. Grain prices usually slump to their lowest levels of the year during the harvest season. Yet the price of corn in recent weeks has shot through the rarely breached $3-a-bushel mark and appears headed higher.
“The consequences of ethanol are the biggest thing going on in agriculture today,” says Keith Collins, chief economist of the U.S. Agriculture Department. “We are talking about a higher new benchmark for corn.”
