FL Farm to Fuel Summit Success

Cindy Zimmerman

Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson was pleased with the turnout at this week’s Farm to Fuel Summit in Orlando. More than 300 people from 10 states and Brazil participated in the summit on how to achieve the goal of reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil and expand the market for Florida’s crops.

“I have long believed that Florida agriculture could play a major part in meeting our nation’s fuel supply,” Bronson said. “Clearly, the overwhelming number of people who have come to this summit because they believe it as well and want to do what is necessary to achieve these goals.”

Speakers at the two-day summit include representatives from the U.S Department of Energy, USDA, University of Florida, General Motors, the petroleum industry and agriculture. Bronson is encouraging participants to build upon the new relationships the summit has established among all these diverse entities.

Gary Cooper with Southeast Agnet attended the event and interviewed Commission Bronson. Listen to MP3 Bronson (4:30 min. MP3)

Biodiesel, Ethanol

FlexFuel Motors Display

Chuck Zimmerman

The Ethanol ShowA new exhibit out here at the Farm Progress Show was put together in just the last 45 days by FlexFuel Motors.

The man who’s the inspiration and work horse behind it is Tad Whitten, Motor Sports Management, Inc. Besides having a variety of vehicles on display that utilize ethanol or biodiesel, he built a replica of the first ethanol filling station which was in Nebraska. As you can see in the picture he’s found pumps and other original equipment and even built the building as close to as possible to the original as he could.

There’s a skit that runs every little while with volunteer actors reliving what a typical fill up would have been like. They talk about ethanol and then it ends with a speech about renewable fuels and why they’re doing this.

I interviewed Tad and you can listen here: Listen to MP3 Tad Whitten Interview (5 min. MP3)

I didn’t videotape the show but I did record it as best I could so you can hear the audio here: Listen to MP3 Ethanol Show (5 min. MP3)

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol

Farmers Visiting The Ethanol Car

Chuck Zimmerman

Alan Slunecka With Indy Car It seems like the number 17 Team Ethanol Indy Car is all over the place. It’s here on display at the Farm Progress Show courtesy of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

The man who’s been touring this around is Alan Slunecka, farmer and brother to EPIC Executive Director, Tom Slunecka. The vehicle here has a simulator attached and that’s been a big draw with the little and big (adult) kids.

Kids in Indy Car SimulatorI asked Alan how it’s going here at the show. He says the line has been long at times with people waiting their turn driving the car. As a farmer he’s very proud of the work being done in the renewable fuels area to make America independent of foreign oil. He doesn’t mind the hard work and long hours driving this demonstrator around the country to promote ethanol which he firmly believes is good for America, the environment and farmers like himself. He not only grows corn that’s turned into ethanol but feeds the by-product (DDG’s) to his cattle.

You can listen to my interview with Alan Slunecka here: Listen to MP3 Alan Slunecka Interview (3 min. MP3)

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol

Energy and Rural Development

Chuck Zimmerman

Interviewing Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas DorrOur USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Thomas Dorr was on hand here at the Farm Progress Show.

In my interview with Sec. Dorr we talked about renewable energy. I asked him to talk about the upcoming “Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance” conference that USDA is conducing with the Dept. of Energy in St. Louis, Oct. 10-12. He lists the speakers that are confirmed and then talks about the latest USDA announcement on grants and loan guarantees from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program.

You can listen to my interview with Sec. Dorr here: Listen To MP3 Secretary Dorr Interview (5 min MP3)

Audio, Government

Ag Secretary On Energy

Chuck Zimmerman

Mike JohannsSecretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns toured the Farm Progress Show today.

Afterward he met with the press. During his remarks he explained what the administration is doing to enhance energy security and independence. One way is the $17 million in grants and guaranteed loans just announced for projects in various locations around the country. He also mentions the upcoming joint USDA-DOE energy conference in St. Louis, MO.

You can listen to Sec. Johanns here: Listen To MP3 Secretary Johanns Remarks (1 min MP3)

Audio, Government

Dupont/Bunge Announce Treus

Chuck Zimmerman

Treus AnnouncementOne of the big announcements here at the Farm Progress Show on opening day was from Bunge and Dupont who have a biotech alliance. Basically they’ve created a new brand, “Treus.” This is being done to “reflect their expansion of the companies’ soy collaboration beyond food and nutrition products to include industrial applications, biofuels and other opportunities.”

Low linolenic soybean oil produced from Pioneer® brand soybean varieties, and previously marketed as NUTRIUM Low Linolenic Soybean Oil, will now be marketed as TREUS™ Low Linolenic Soybean Oil.

DuPont has a significant effort to deliver new technologies to the growing biofuels market, which includes improving biofuel production through improved seed and crop protection products; developing new technologies to allow conversion of cellulose to biofuels; and developing next generation biofuels, including biobutanol. In addition to developing corn hybrids for ethanol, DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., is characterizing Pioneer® brand soybean varieties for oil content to determine impact on biodiesel production.

I interviewed Troy Hobbs, Business Manager, Bunge/Dupont Biotech Alliance. He describes the changes in more detail and what this means for producers. Troy is pictured on the left of the Treus sign. On the right is Jason Klootwyk, Bunge, Asst. Commercial Manager, Grain Division.

You can listen to my interview with Troy here: Listen To MP3 Troy Hobbs Interview (3 min MP3) Note: I wasn’t using my regular recorder but the audio is acceptable.

Full Release

Agribusiness, Audio, Biodiesel, Biotech, Ethanol

Panda Powers Plants With Poop

Cindy Zimmerman

Panda Development GroupTexas-based Panda Energy has announced plans to build a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Sherman County, Texas.

According to a news release, the Sherman plant will generate the steam used in the ethanol manufacturing process by gasifying more than 1 billion pounds of cattle manure a year. Once complete, it will be one of the most fuel efficient ethanol refineries in the nation and equal in size to Panda’s Hereford facility which is the largest biomass-fueled ethanol plant in the United States.

The Sherman facility is the fourth 100 million gallon ethanol project announced by Panda, and the third to be powered by cattle manure.

Ethanol, Facilities

Paseo Investment Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

MSA cargill Paseo Biofuels, the Kansas City biodiesel plant joint venture between Cargill and Missouri Soybean growers announced earlier this month, is holding an investment meeting this week.

It will take place at 1:00 p.m. Thursday at the Farm Credit Services office off Hwy 65 North in Marshall, Missouri.

No website yet, so for more information about Paseo Biofuels they suggest you call 573-635-3819.

Biodiesel

American Agriculture on the Move

Cindy Zimmerman

AAM The American Agriculture Movement is organizing a “Drive for American Bio-Energy for Jobs, Family Farms, and National Security.”

According to the AAM, a “small group of patriotic family farm advocates, business people, and concerned citizens” will travel east from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. in antique tractors and cars “in an effort to raise public awareness about the contribution agriculture can make to help bring energy security to the American people.” They plan to converge on the Mall in DC on October 5.

AAM is supporting the Declaration of Independence from Foreign Energy, which reads:

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve their dependence on foreign energy which has connected them to others, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and commerce demand requires that the Congress of the United States of America declare a policy that ensures this energy independence. Only then can Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness be assured to future generations! We hold these truths to be self-evident that all energy sources are not created equal; that some are endowed by their creators with certain unalienable characteristics; that among these are abundance, renewability, and environmental compatibility and that, to secure these characteristics the federal government must provide support for renewable biomass resources. For America to have secure and affordable energy the supply must be diverse, decentralized, domestic and renewable and provide non-monopolistic marketing systems to assure energy Independence for the people. To this end we the undersigned demand the passage of the American Renewable Biomass Energy Security Tax-credit!

Agribusiness, Energy

First Terminal Certified For Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

Sprague Sprague Energy Corp. of New Hampshire has become the first oil terminal operator in the United States to earn BQ-9000 Certified Marketer status by the National Biodiesel Board, according to releases from both Sprague and NBB.

“This designation demonstrates Sprague’s commitment to supplying our customers with the highest quality biodiesel,” said Sprague President and CEO John McClellan. “It is our responsibility to prevent off-specification biodiesel from entering the marketplace and the BQ-9000 program ensures this. Put simply, if it doesn’t meet BQ-9000 quality standards, we won’t sell it.”

This year, Sprague has opened the first rack-blended biodiesel terminal in Albany, NY, enabling home heating and diesel fuel retailers throughout Upstate New York, Vermont and Western Massachusetts to supply a precisely blended biofuel product to their customers. Sprague’s Albany terminal, which also stores approximately 40 million gallons of traditional petroleum fuels, stores 40,000 gallons of pure biodiesel (also referred to as “neat” or B100). The B100 is blended with diesel fuel (“Biodiesel”) for over-the-road applications and #2 heating oil (“Bioheat”) for residential and commercial heating applications. The biofuel content is typically 2, 5, or 20 percent of the blended fuel.

New York Governor George E. Pataki, speaking at the Albany facility’s grand opening said “We recognize the need to reduce our dependence on imported energy, and this new facility shows that this vital energy transition is not only possible, but already underway.”

Biodiesel