A summit was held last week in Chicago to address the role of seed technology in meeting the growing demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel.

The goal of the American Seed Research Summit was to bring together research leaders from industry, academia and government to identify major seed research challenges and to develop a national strategy and action plan to solve those challenges.

Sponsored by the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), the American Seed Research Foundation and the National Council of Commercial Plant Breeders, over 40 representatives were in attendance at the two-day summit. Keynote speakers included representatives of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, the University of Wisconsin, Pioneer Hi-bred International and Monsanto.

The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City is holding a forum on Food and Fuel next month to examine the challenges and opportunities of meeting food and fuel demands.

The forum will feature both agricultural and food business leaders, including representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, Missouri Farm Bureau, the American Bakers Association, and the Food and Agricultural Organization.

The forum will be held Thursday, October 23, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the American Royal court in Kansas City. Registration and further information can be found here on the ABC of KC website.

The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy is out to inform the nation’s policy makers that American agriculture is fully capable of producing both food and fuel with no trade off.

The alliance was formed in July and includes Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association. ADM Vice President for Government Relations Greg Webb says because government formulates food and energy policy, it is important that they be well informed. “We think that the alliance will help educate and draw attention to agriculture’s capability to produce and meet increasing demands,” Webb said. “A lot of folks are seeing the increased demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel and they kind of freeze the production capability in time and think that we’ll never produce another pound more than what we do now.”

Alliance representatives attended both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and ads from the alliance were featured in publications at both conventions.

The alliance is trying to make it known through advertising and lobbying efforts that by growing more crops and developing more efficient ways of processing them, we can produce enough to meet the world’s needs for both food and energy. All of the agribusinesses involved are working in that direction by improving seed varieties, crop protection methods, harvesting and processing equipment and techniques.

Ethanol was showcased to Republican National Convention goers this week during an event sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council.

The Renewable Fuels Association and Minnesota’s ethanol producers joined together to be one of the sponsors of AgNite, a non-partisan event to celebrate the food, agriculture and biofuel industries of the state and nation. The event was held in the historic Minneapolis Depot and drew over 4,000 attendees who browsed through exhibits, ate local foods and listened to music.

The biofuels industry was also well represented by two of the event’s top level sponsors, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association and CHS, which is a supplier and distributor of both ethanol and biodiesel and an owner of ethanol manufacturer US BioEnergy. Another of the event sponsors was ethanol plant design-builder Fagen, Inc. of Granite Falls, MN.

The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council is hosting a celebration of America’s food, agriculture and energy industries during the second night of the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

AgNite is a non-partisan event independent from the RNC being coordinated by the council with the help of numerous sponsors, including the ethanol industry under the auspices of the Renewable Fuels Association. The companies and organizations will have exhibits and information available for the thousands of visitors expected, including delegates and policy makers attending the convention. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council has provided the Team Ethanol show car for display on the floor during the AgNite event. Minnesota is the nation’s fourth largest ethanol producing state, with 17 plants producing 1.1 billion gallons per year.

Organizers are expecting as many as 4,000 people to attend the invitation-only event which is being held Tuesday, Sept. 2, from 8 pm to 2 am in the historic Minneapolis Depot.

Analysts with a major agricultural financial institution say alternative fuels are just one of the many factors causing higher food prices.

Karol Aure-Flynn, executive director of the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory department, says “food versus fuel” is basically a misleading sound bite. “The fallacy of the headline is that there is a direct competition between the two; that it’s either or. The reality is that strong global economic growth has changed the demand equation for U.S. commodities,” he said in a recent Rabobank podcast. “The depreciation of the U.S. dollar, soaring energy costs and changing trade policies are also contributing to the cost of commodities, which in turn is raising the cost of food — it’s not just fuel, it’s a combination of all of these factors.”

Aure-Flynn also notes that while prices at the farm level have increased this year, they have been outpaced by production costs for farmers.

“Farmers’ profitability doesn’t change retail prices. And farmers’ profitability isn’t guaranteed by high grain prices. The same factors that are lifting grain prices are lifting production costs,” said Aure-Flynn. “So, yes, the farm price index is at 162 percent of what it was 1990-1992, but at the same time the price index measuring what farmers pay — for services, farm wages — is 189 percent of base.”

Rabobank is a global financial services leader providing institutional and retail banking and agricultural finance solutions in key markets around the world.

Monsanto was represented at this morning’s ethanol press conference at the Iowa Speedway by Troy Hobbs, Corn Biofuels Strategy Lead. He started his comments explaining that the company’s mission is to drive productivity in the agricultural sector. He spoke to how quickly they’ve been able to increase the per acre yield in corn with their research on seed and traits.

With their Processor Preferred program they’re working with ethanol plants to make sure they’re getting the corn that is best suited to their production. He also made a good point about how ethanol production is helping keep American dollars in America which is good for our economy.

You can listen to Troy’s comments here:

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Pioneer Hi-Bred is sponsoring the Iowa Corn Indy 250 again this year and I spoke to Russ Sanders, Marketing Director, about how the company is involved. He’s pictured here (left) with Team Ethanol driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay and EPIC Director of Communications, Joanna Schroeder.

Russ says that the company sees a great opportunity in the biofuels arena and their participation in this race provides them with a great opportunity to get the message out about the positive benefits of a fuel like ethanol.

You can listen to my interview with Russ here:

Or watch it on this video:

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Leaders of five major agricultural organizations and the head of the Renewable Fuels Association joined together Wednesday to try and dispel many of the accusations that have been levied against biofuels in recent months and emphasize the positive contributions of ethanol in particular.

“Instead of using ethanol as a scapegoat for increased food prices, we should be having a discussion about the business, economic and policy issues that are connected with the world of $130 plus per barrel oil,” said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman. He said the country’s Renewable Fuels Standard passed by Congress in December was the “right thing to do and continues to be the right thing to do.”

Stallman was joined by Tom Buis of the National Farmers Union, in a rare show of unity for the two general farm organizations that are frequently at odds over policy issues. Buis listed his top six myths about higher prices being blamed on ethanol, including Mexican tortillas, pasta, rice, bagels, beer and movie theater tickets. “I’m tired of debating these myths,” said Buis. “The last thing we need to do on renewable energy is backslide again because 30 years from now we will be back talking again about our dependence on imported energy.”

Other farmer leaders from the National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Sorghum Producers participated in the conference call with members of the news media, fielding questions from reporters at media outlets ranging from Reuters to the Capitol Press in Idaho.

Claims that ethanol production drives up gas prices don’t hold up after a study from Iowa State University. ISU’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development has taken a look at the impact of ethanol production on U.S. and regional gas prices and found that ethanol production actually lowers prices at the pump.

Using pooled regional time-series data and panel data estimation, we quantify the impact of monthly ethanol production on monthly retail regular gasoline prices. This analysis suggests that the growth in ethanol production has caused retail gasoline prices to be $0.29 to $0.40 per gallon lower than would otherwise have been the case. The analysis shows that the negative impact of ethanol on gasoline prices varies considerably across regions. The Midwest region has the biggest impact, at $0.39/gallon, while the Rocky Mountain region had the smallest impact, at $0.17/gallon. The results also indicate that ethanol production has significantly reduced the profit margin of the oil refinery industry. The results are robust with respect to alternative model specifications.