Domestic Fuel

As promised, I’ve got some more material for you from Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, who addressed attendees of the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis, Mo.

Schafer praised Farm Foundation’s long commitment to promoting the free-form type of discussion and debate we saw at this just-concluded conference of state and federal government officials, academics and representatives of the private industry. He says this is where real solutions to the challenges that face Rural America will be found.

“I’m really pleased that USDA can play a strong part and [be] a strong collaborator in this important work.”

Schafer says we must ask the tough questions, such as how are we going to grow the feedstocks of the future, what are they going to be, where we going to grow them… and how we get those feedstocks into the biofuel supply chain.

“The science that is critical to for the trans to a new bioeconomy also demands a strong partnership as we move forward on the research arena… the federal, the land grant and the private sector research coming together for this important mission.” Schafer adds that as we make the transition, corn ethanol is the bridge to cellulosic ethanol using the infrastructure and industry established by the corn ethanol industry.

Listen to Schafer’s address to the Farm Foundation here: Schaferaddress.mp3

Download audio file here.

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The president of the World Bank made an appearance at the World Food Prize symposium Thursday on World Food Day and commented on world production of food and biofuels during a press conference.

Robert Zoellick noted that some biofuels are more efficient than others, like sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, and he believes that “biofuels in the future are going to be a critical component of a larger energy mix.” He also acknowledged the importance of creating the marketing framework which he says is “partly what some of the oilseeds-based and corn-based biofuels are about.”

He urges policy makers in the U.S. to consider some ways to change the structure of tariffs and subsidies for ethanol, such as having some “safety-valves” that would allow for the reduction of subsidies when prices reach certain levels.

Listen to Zoellick’s comments here:
wfp-08-zoellick-biofuels.mp3

You can also download the audio with this link: Zoellick on Food and Fuel (mp3)

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

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The ability of the world to grow enough agricultural crops to produce both food and fuel was a topic of discussion at the World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines on Thursday, which was also World Food Day.

This year’s World Food Prize honorees, former Senators George McGovern and Bob Dole, pictured here with 2003 World Food Prize laureate Catherine Bertini, were asked what they thought about whether food and fuel production can co-exist.

“I think there is a moral challenge in utilizing food for fuel at a time when there’s so many hungry people in the world,” McGovern said. “On the other hand, if it’s kept within reasonable bounds, I think it can be good for both agriculture and nutrition.” He stressed the need for the development of non-food sources for fuel.

Dole noted the importance of new energy sources in the presidential election and he thinks the answer lies in having a number of alternatives. “There’s switchgrass and other biofuels, and there’s nuclear energy and drilling off-shore,” Dole said. “We gotta do everything we can, it’s not all going to be ethanol.”

Listen to McGovern’s and Dole’s comments here:
wfp-08-winners-biofuels.mp3

You can also download the audio with this link: World Food Prize Winners on Food and Fuel (mp3)

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.5MB)

Making soybeans into biodiesel is no food versus fuel competition – rather it is food AND fuel.

“When you talk about soy biodiesel, you can actually burn the soy and eat it too,” says Jim Hershey, who is executive director for both the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program and the World Soy Foundation.

During a World Food Prize luncheon sponsored by the soybean industry on Thursday, Hershey said that when you take the oil to use as a fuel, you’re still left with every bit of protein from the soybean. “By raising more soy for biodiesel, we actually raise more protein and that’s what the world needs,” Hershey said.

Hershey says they have calculated that of the 100 million gallons of soy biodiesel produced in Iowa last year, “the protein that came from those beans would feed 30 billion rations of soy” based on 25 grams per day.

Listen to an interview with Hershey here:
wfp-08-hershey.mp3

You can also download the audio with this link: Jim Hershey at World Food Prize (mp3)

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

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Western Convenience at 3201 Lake Avenue in Pueblo, Colorado will hold a grand opening event to celebrate their offering of E85 on Wednesday, October 29. The event will allow consumers to receive promotional pricing on E85 plus learn more about the fuel.

The celebration will began at 11 a.m. and will include a live radio remote, hot dogs, refreshments and the fuel special of E85 for 85 cents per gallon until 2 p.m.

Sponsoring this event are: the Colorado Corn Growers Association, the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition, Southern Colorado Clean Cities and Western Convenience.

There are now four E85 fueling facilities in the city of Pueblo to fuel their just over 2,200 registered flexible fuel vehicles.

The recent credit crisis in the country was certainly a hot topic of conversation at today’s Farm Foundation Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference here in St. Louis, Mo.

Cole Gustafson, a biofuels economist with North Dakota State University, says the current credit issues is going to make financing any venture a challenge, but he says the existing ethanol and biodiesel plants are in pretty good shape as far as financing goes.

He says any new ventures will have to make sure they have solid financial fundamentals before they’ll be approved for any loan.

“Wall Street is nervous in general,” he says. And any one interested in getting financing for a new biofuels project will have to make sure they have their financial basics in good order and might need to diversify.

Listen to my conversation with Gustafson here: Gustafson.mp3

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer has just finished addressing the folks attending the latest Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy Conference going on in St. Louis, Mo.

Schafer reminded the crowd how hard the current administration has worked to promote the biofuels field in this country, and thus, how hard it had worked to help the farmers who are either directly or indirectly tied to this change to a bioeconomy.

He said that now, more than ever, we need to keep exploring new technologies and new ideas to secure our energy independence and in turn, our national security. Schafer added that ethanol and biodiesel, as well as other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, will be key to that energy security and independence.

I’ll have some more audio from Schafer’s address to the Farm Foundation, but for now, let me give you a little bit of what he told reporters who caught him for just a few minutes before he had to head out.

I asked him about the importance of a meeting such as this, where diverse opinions are brought together to come up with a consensus as to what might be the best direction to go.

“These conferences are very important because what you get is that diverse viewpoint. And when you’re challenging one another, you end up picking up the good pieces and forging good public policy and direction.”

He added that this isn’t solely a price issue or an environmental issue or an economics issue… all must be looked at for a biofuel policy for America.

Listen to Schafer’s comment here: Schafer1.mp3

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Pioneer Hi-Bred International continues to work on increasing agricultural productivity to both feed and fuel the world.

Pioneer president Paul Schickler spoke on a panel at the World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines Wednesday and one of his points is that biotechnology can “address both the food availability issue as well as making a meaningful impact on our dependence on petroleum based products.”

“We can do that through a number of sciences in the market today and additional generations will be on the market in the years ahead,” Schickler said.

Listen to Schickler biofuels comment here:
wfp-08-schickler-biofuels.mp3

You can also download the audio with this link: Paul Schickler on biofuels (mp3)

Schickler also took the first question to the panel, which was “How optimistic are you that the world can reduce hunger by half by 2015?”

Schickler stated that he was very confident that goal could be reached, simply on the basis of increased food production, using hybrid corn as an example. “If you look back throughout the development of hybrid corn, productivity has improved at about one and a half percent per year,” he said. “As we look to the future, we think we can double that, and that has already started to show up in the last 8-10 years through the use of biotechnology, plant genetics and improved agronomic practices.”

Listen to Schickler’s answer to that question here:
wfp-08-schickler.MP3

You can also download the audio with this link: Paul Schickler at World Food Prize (mp3)

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (355.8KB)

Back at it this morning at the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Development Impacts Conference in St. Louis, Mo. Today is another big day, as we’re hearing from another variety of speakers who bring a lot of different viewpoints to the table.

Later this morning, we’ll hear from the financial side of the issues facing Rural America as it not only faces this changing bioeconomy but the recent market turmoils as well. I’m really looking forward to that talk, and I’ll bring you some highlights as they come.

In addition, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer will talk to the group, and we’ll let you know what he has to say.

It’s this free-form back-and-forth conversation that the various stakeholders bring to this meeting that makes Farm Foundation’s format so successful. There will be
two more meetings scheduled for this coming winter and spring (2009) focusing on the global aspects of the bioeconomy and how to get extension offices throughout the nation more involved.

Of course, none of this happens without the work of many good Farm Foundation folks, including this lady, Communications Director Mary Thompson. She has been a truly valuable asset for yours truly, making sure I’ve had a place and the resources to bring you these updates. Many thanks again, Mary!

As I said, I’ll have more updates to come. Stay tuned!

The promise of new science and technology for increasing food and fuel production was part of a conversation panel at the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Symposium in Des Moines on Wednesday.

Among the panelists was Brazil’s former minister of agriculture Roberto Rodrigues, co-chair of the International Biofuels Commission, who talked about the importance of biofuels development for developing nations. “Biofuels depend enormously on sun,” Rodriques said. “That means that the production of biofuels, bioelectricity and agri-energy in general will happen between the two tropics – the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn – Latin American countries, African countries and the poorest Asian countries,” meaning that the poorest countries could be the producers of the most important commodity – energy.

Rodrigues says “absolutely we are going to improve new technologies and we are able to feed humankind and produce biofuels all together.” He notes that Brazil is a good example of what can be done in that regard and that there is a “myth” that production of sugarcane for ethanol is reducing the production of food. “This year we have a record grain production, but we also have record sugarcane production, record meat production and record production of dairy products -so there is no competition between sugarcane and food in Brazil and we can apply that in African, other Latin American and Asian countries.”

Listen to Rodrigues’ comments here:
wfp-08-roberto.MP3

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

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The amount of water that goes into growing the corn that goes into ethanol has been a big topic of conversation between those for and against production of the green fuel. That’s why it is a topic of conversation at the Farm Foundation’s Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis this week. This gathering of government officials, academics and industry leaders is designed to take on the tough questions facing Rural America as it moves to a bioeconomy.

One of the people in the ethanol/water discussion is Noel Gollehon, a senior economist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. He says the amount of irrigated corn is particularly concerning.

“About 15 percent of corn that is in counties that have ethanol plants is irrigated.” He adds that it takes 2,500 gallons for a bushel of corn. Now, while a large amount of that is grown in areas that uses the natural rainfall, what is worrisome is the corn grown in the drier western plains, where it equates to 750-1,000 gallons of irrigation water for each gallon of ethanol using irrigated corn as a feedstock. He says the answer might be cellulosic ethanol. However, he says it is no panacea and might be just as damaging to finite underground water sources.

“Working through this transition (to a bioeconomy), we have to use what we have,” says Gollehon. “But as we look forward, we hope we can develop cellulosic-based ethanol that doesn’t rely on that type of crop that has to be irrigated in those environments.”

Gollehon says we’ve been irrigating in this country for about 100 years, and if we want, we can keep doing that until all the water is gone… if we want to go down that route. But he believes that conversations, such as this one at the Farm Foundation’s conference, coupled with new technologies will get people to look at longer-term sustainability.

Hear more of my conversation with Gollehon here: Gollehon.mp3

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These days, a dialogue about global food has to include biofuels – the two have become inseparable in recent years. At the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Symposium this week in Des Moines many speakers are addressing how biofuels fit in the global food outlook.

The keynote speaker for the symposium kickoff Wednesday was Sir Gordon Conway, who is chief scientific adviser for the UK. He talked about the spike in food prices over the past year and listed at least ten underlying causes, demand for biofuels being only one and he did not single it out as being a major culprit. He also pointed out the increasing global population, higher per capita income, increased demand for meat, higher prices for energy and fertilizer, and a shortage of arable land as some of the other factors.

Conway stressed the need to address why we want to produce biofuels and the urgency to move quickly into second and even third generation biofuels – such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and biodiesel from algae. “Maybe we should have a new World Food Prize on this,” Conway said. “In which we transform the world from one dependent on fossil fuels for energy and production of chemicals, into one that depends on plants as a basic source of our economy.”

Listen to Conway’s comments here:
wfp-08-conway-biofuels.mp3

The World Food Prize was established in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug to honor the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. This year’s winners are former U.S. Senators George McGovern and Bob Dole, who are being honored for their work in establishing the McGovern-Dole international school-feeding program which has provided meals to feed more than 22 million children in 41 countries.

See photos of the World Food Prize event here.

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The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) recently announced that, according to the Department of Revenue, E85 sales already have exceeded all of 2007 sales. Retailers reached 3,519,575 gallons during the first six months of 2008 – surpassing total 2007 sales of 3,420,557 gallons.

“As gas prices continued to rise in 2008, a growing number of consumers relied on E85 for a cheaper, cleaner fuel alternative,” said Monte Shaw, IRFA Executive Director. “Retailers are responding with 20 new E85 stations so far this year. We’re on track to have over 100 E85 retailers by the end of the year.”

The rate of E85 sales in Iowa is increasing as well. Second quarter’s 2,217,095 gallons were nearly double first quarter’s 1,302,480 gallons of E85 sales.

As of January 2008, there were nearly 80,400 flexible fuel vehicles registered in Iowa. Currently, there are 102 E85 fueling stations in the state.

The National Governors Association (NGA) announced today that it will partner with General Motors Corporation (GM) and 10 states to bring more E85 infrastructure to their growing number of flexible fuel vehicles. The states involved in this collaboration are: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

“Improving the use of clean, domestically grown biofuels like ethanol will help move us toward a cleaner, more secure energy future,” said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center for Best Practices.

“The infrastructure for E85 needs to expand now if the nation is to be ready for the significant growth in ethanol coming from new cellulosic and biomass sources,” said Beth Lowery, GM vice president of environment, energy and safety policy. “We need a range of alternatives to offset growing oil demand in this country and globally.”

Under the terms of the partnerships, GM will help states assess optimal locations for E85 pump locations.

You don’t have to agree to come up with agreeable solutions… that seems to be the theme for the latest Farm Foundation Transition to a Bioeconomy Conference.

This is the third in a series of these Farm Foundation-sponsored meetings designed to get a handle on the changing farm economy and what the expansion of biofuels, particularly ethanol and biodiesel, means to rural America. The focus of this week’s meeting has been the ramifications of the bioeconomy on the environment and rural development.

President of Farm Foundation, Neil Conklin, says bringing together a diverse group of government, academic and industry leaders, who might not agree on everything, is key to the success of these forums.

“We like to call ourselves a catalyst for better food, agriculture and rural policy.”

Conklin says, first of all, they want to address issues affecting the rural economy, especially as it pertains to the bioeconomy, and second, what are the environmental effects of these actions. He says there are often times unintended consequences as people rush to keep up with the changing bioeconomy.

“[We want to] bring people to the table who have a deep understanding of these issues to talk about the [direct and indirect consequences] and how can we deal with those.”

Two more conferences are coming up in this series of Farm Foundation conferences. The first, late next winter, will look at the global implications of the bioeconomy and the second, early next spring, will consider how extension services help rural communities make the adjustment as we make this transition.

For my entire interview with Neil, click here: NeilConklin.mp3

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