Record rain and flooding has left acres of ravaged farmland in Missouri, Indiana and Iowa this month. The Iowa Farm Bureau has estimated crop losses in that state alone to amount to $3 billion. But, leaders of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board say though they expect corn and soybean crops to take a hit, their expectations for the 2008 harvest are far from bleak. Some even expect the state to still harvest its third most productive yield.
In this DomesticFuel Cast, we hear from Craig Floss, Chief Executive Officer for the Iowa Corn Grower’s Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Julius Schaaf, chair of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and Gary Edwards of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Here is the Domestic Fuel Cast #5:
You can also subscribe to the Domestic Fuel Cast using the following url/feed link: http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/domestic-fuel-cast.xml.
The USDA Planted Acreage report out Monday was good news, although it does not yet reflect the damage from Midwest flooding.
Corn planted area is reported to be 1.31 million acres more than was estimated in the March intentions report at 87.3 million acres, down just 7 percent from last year. That is the second highest since 1946, behind last year’s total of 93.6 million acres. If it were all to make it, growers would harvest 78.9 million acres for grain, down 9 percent from 2007 and the second highest since 1944.
Putting the acreage report in context with respect to America’s ethanol industry, Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen said it shows how American farmers are capable of meeting the growing demand for feed, food, fiber and fuel.
“This report once again demonstrates that together with agriculture, American ethanol producers can help lead this nation in new, renewable energy direction,” said Dinneen.
National Corn Growers Association chairman Ken McCauley says his corn in Northeast Kansas looks good right now and it’s important to remember that there is plenty of corn being grown outside of Iowa.
“I tell you what, everybody is going to produce some corn,” McCauley said. “Iowa will produce a lot of corn and when you get down to it we’re gonna have a good corn crop and it could even be one of the better one or two or three.”
Another representative of Fagan Incorporated has joined the ranks in the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Matt Sederstrom of Platinum Ethanol is a new board member, elected at EPIC’s first annual meeting earlier this month.
Matt says he hopes to drive a solid cohesiveness in the ethanol industry, bringing more members and industry partners together for a common cause.
“Now more than ever you’re probably seeing a need for us to step up and be more of a cohesive industry,” Matt said. He echoed LifeLine Foods‘ Dave Vander Griend saying “everyone has to shoulder the load.”
Chuck spoke with Matt at EPIC’s first annual meeting. You can listen to Chuck’s interview here:
One of the newest board members of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is a man of many hats. Ray Defenbaugh is the CEO of Big River Resources, a company that’s based in Southeast Iowa. The company already operates a one 100 million gallon ethanol plant and another is under construction.
But, Ray doesn’t just know ethanol production. He’s also quite the fiscally savvy farmer. Ray serves as chairman of the board for a $330 million bank.
When asked about this latest “hat” though, Ray says ethanol possesses a “wide area of influence and effect.” He says the fuel is an excellent representation of value added agriculture, “bringing value right back into our Midwestern community right where it belongs.”
Chuck spoke with Ray at EPIC’s first annual meeting. You can listen to Chuck’s interview here:
To wrap things up here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference I spoke with board member, Cornelius Gallagher. He says the conference brought together world class leaders who were able to listen to some fantastic presentations. I’ve posted interviews with almost all of them so please scroll back through them.
Corny, as he likes to be called, says that the conference accomplished what it was supposed to which is bringing leaders together to foster knowledge and provide attendees with a better understanding in a broad sense of the bio economy.
The next conference in the series will be held October 15-16 in St. Louis.
What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having to look at different types of contracts and financing.
She said that ethanol companies are going to need a consistent and reliable source of product and that farming by nature is very variable. So farmers will be taking big risks and that’s why contracting will be necessary. She also calls for a lot more research, something we heard earlier in the program from other speakers.
We heard from Chevron here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference since according to Paul Bryan, the company has made a major commitment to biofuels. He says they created a biofuels business unit about 2 years ago. Their focus is on 2nd generation biofuels that use non-food crops.
His talk focused on the integration in the biopetroleum business. He describes that as using bio-derived fuels that work with the existing petroleum infrastructure. One of the projects they’re involved with uses micro algae and he’s saying that it will be about 5 to 15 years before it’s in full volume production.
The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture.
In fact, he says the New York investment community is not interested in biofuels right now. He says they’re tapped out and that ethanol and biodiesel are not of interest to them at all. So with that being said, what’s next? He says there needs to be a combination of making more money from existing plants by co-locating other facilities or finding other sources of income from the same plant. He also thinks there needs to be more and bigger business structures.
He says this means we’re returning to more traditional models of rural development that take a longer term view. He recommends growing local agriculturally skilled management teams with people who understand farm risk.
Our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics is Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
He also talked about how impressed he was at last week’s Bio Energy Awareness Days in Washington, DC where 35 different universities made presentations.
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks we should be concerned because most of the corn will be moved by truck and that’s going to impact rural roads. He also sees an increase in rail transportation but not significantly.
He’s worked on a project with the state department of transportation in Indiana to study traffic flow changes and suggests that more of this type of research needs to be done. He says that a 100 million gallon ethanol plant will have up to 110 trucks in per day.
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Record rain and flooding has left acres of ravaged farmland in Missouri, Indiana and Iowa this month. The Iowa Farm Bureau has estimated crop losses in that state alone to amount to $3 billion. But, leaders of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board say though they expect corn and soybean crops to take a hit, their expectations for the 2008 harvest are far from bleak. Some even expect the state to still harvest its third most productive yield.
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Putting the acreage report in context with respect to America’s ethanol industry, 
Another representative of Fagan Incorporated has joined the ranks in the 
One of the newest board members of the 
To wrap things up here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference I spoke with board member, Cornelius Gallagher. He says the conference brought together world class leaders who were able to listen to some fantastic presentations. I’ve posted interviews with almost all of them so please scroll back through them.
What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having to look at different types of contracts and financing.
We heard from Chevron here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference since according to Paul Bryan, the company has made a major commitment to biofuels. He says they created a biofuels business unit about 2 years ago. Their focus is on 2nd generation biofuels that use non-food crops.
The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture.
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Our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics is Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks we should be concerned because most of the corn will be moved by truck and that’s going to impact rural roads. He also sees an increase in rail transportation but not significantly.