USB: Soy-Biodiesel Unfairly Blamed
Soybean growers say their crop is being unfairly maligned in the Food-versus-Fuel debate. Members of the United Soybean Board gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana this week, and part of what they are discussing is how to counter arguments supporting that viewpoint.
Gary Truitt’s Hoosier Ag Today has more details from the meeting:
During the discussion, there was considerable debate on how the soybean industry should respond to the Food vs. Fuel issue. Karen Fear from Montpelier, IN, said soy-biodiesel is being unfairly criticized, “We need to get the word out so that people back this more.” Jack Reed from Washington County said the soybean is a perfect example of how farmers can produce both food and fuel, “When you take the oil out of the soybean you will have 80% of the soybean left which is meal.” From that meal, you can make livestock feed and a variety of human food needs. Reed said it is not an either or situation.
Indiana USB representative Jim Schriver said, unlike ethanol, very little of soybean production is going into fuel production, “Only about 2% of our soybean production goes into fuel production.” He said the real issue is the price of oil. Not only is the high price of oil causing energy prices to rise, but it has caused a dramatic increase in soybean oil demand.
The story goes on to point out how this country is trying to find an alternative to outrageously high-priced petroleum… and soybean oil is a viable alternative. In addition, farmers are large users of energy, so why shouldn’t they be producing some of what they are using. Amen to that!
The government wants to know more about the biodiesel production operations in this country.
Sarah Brechbill, Purdue University, got to put her masters degree project on the stage today here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She looked at the cost to get biomass to a plant and specifically looked at switchgrass and corn stover.
We hear a lot about co-products with ethanol production like the DDGS but what about in cellulosic ethanol production? Well, Danielle Julie Carrier, Arkansas State University is doing work on that subject.
During our last session of the day here at the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio Economy Conference, our speakers talked about some feedstock and co-product issues of ethanol production. First up was Abhishek Goel, North Dakota State University. He did work on using dry peas to supplement corn in an ethanol plant. The idea was to reduce supply risk and increase profitability.
On the subject of locating a biorefinery we had another presentation on the subject here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. This one was by David Perkis, Purdue University.
Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants.
We had USDA Rural Development represented here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference by Tony Crooks. He works with their rural business cooperatives program and has done a lot of work with communities in the area of ethanol and biodiesel.
The luncheon speaker at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference focused on managing risk. Paul Willems works for 
Two key words in a presentation at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference were flexibility and diversification. These are important to managing risk, especially in R&D for renewable fuels.
The second session here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference was on risk and uncertainty.
One of our speakers here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference brought the discussion down to the farm level. John Miranowski, Iowa State University, spoke about the impact of biofuels on the rural economy and the farm structure.
Like the first speaker on our program today here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference, our second speaker, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, says we need to increase agricultural productivity.
The first speaker here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk deals with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel.