Domestic Fuel

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack believes that the Environmental Protection agency will increase the amount of ethanol allowed in regular gasoline above the current ten percent.

“I’m very confident that we’re going to see an increase in the blend rate,” said Vilsack in a telephone press conference from Iowa on Friday.

Vilsack also said that long-term extensions of the ethanol subsidies are needed in order to attract private capital to meet the mandate of 36 billion gallons of ethanol production by 2022. “We need a plan. We need to show that there’s a way to get to 36 billion gallons,” he said. “We want to find out how many refineries we need to build, we need to find out what feedstocks need to be advanced in terms of research and development. We need to figure out how to do things more efficiently with our current systems and how we might be able to incent those efficiencies. We need to figure out a distribution system and how many blender pumps are we gonna need and where are they going to be located and how do we get started doing that.”

The secretary says he has a team working on that plan and hopes to have it ready by the end of summer.

Roadsides and median strips may turn out to be the perfect place to grow crops for biodiesel.

“It’s a very non-traditional approach to utilizing some public lands that are not being utilized as well as they could be,” says Utah State University researcher Dallas Hanks. It is estimated that there are some 10 million available acres of land in roadsides, airports, military bases, railroad areas and more that currently require significant maintenance cost that could be used for producing biofuel crops such as safflower and canola which could be harvested a couple times a year. The benefits include a new source for biofuel feedstocks, as well as improved aesthetics and reduced roadside maintenance costs.

“We’ve been lucky enough to get a national coalition with an executive committee and land grant universities all around the country involved in this,” Hanks said during a recent interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting. “We are excited about their interest and we are excited to put some seeds in the ground.”

Other partners in the project include the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and New Holland Ag. “New Holland has been wonderful from the get-go on this,” said Hanks. “They were very gracious in giving us some equipment to help us with our research costs and further this project.” NBB has been the main source of funding for the project, for which Hanks says they are very grateful.

Some of the states already moving on the project include Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina and Washington.

Find out more about this initiative from biodieselsustainability.com and freewaystofuel.org. Listen to or download my interview with Dallas Hanks below.

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The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is pleased with a decision by Senate leadership last week to delay consideration of climate change legislation until the spring of 2010.

During a recent interview before the delay was announced, AFBF president Bob Stallman said the agricultural organization opposed the climate change bill that was passed by the House, despite provisions included that were beneficial to agriculture. “That bill we believe will downsize American agriculture by at least 20 percent,” he said. “Long term it reduces our ability to produce food.”

Stallman says that AFBF is also opposed to the controversial concept of indirect land use change to determine the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels. “That issue is an attempt by the environmental community to remove the use of corn ethanol from the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Stallman said. “We’re opposed to that. Number one, there is no science, it’s pure speculation. And how you can say that an acre producing corn ethanol here is going to change a specific acre in a specific country is nonsense.”

Listen to an interview with Stallman here.

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Cellulosic ethanol pioneers like Jeff Broin of POET are confident about the future of next generation fuels, even if the country fails to reach the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate of 100 million gallons of production next year.

“To be honest with you, that number was picked out of thin air, so the chance that we do or don’t make it is certainly a risk,” Broin said during an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting last week. “The industry is moving ahead as quickly as it can. But I think we will gain on that number in the future and I am very, very bullish about the future of cellulosic ethanol.”

POET is one of several companies on the front lines of developing cellulosic ethanol technology and feedstocks and Broin says the government has been helpful in getting some grants out to build initial plants. “Once we have the first couple plants, I believe the investment will come very quickly,” Broin said.

Broin remains bullish on corn ethanol as well as cellulosic, especially since the primary feedstock for POET’s pilot plant is corn cobs and stover. “We have plenty of grain this year, we’re going to have too much grain in the future, so we need to look at what we are going to do to turn that grain into energy and food.”

Listen to my interview with Jeff Broin from NAFB here.

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Representatives of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) were in Kansas City last week for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Trade Talk event, which meant they did dozens of interviews about the importance of ethanol to agriculture and the rural economy.

In this edition of “The Ethanol Report,” we hear from RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen about some of the topics they discussed with reporters, including when the EPA decision on increasing the ethanol blend level might be made, how the industry is faring, and the great productivity of the American farmer.

You can subscribe to this twice monthly podcast by following this link.

Listen to or download the podcast here:

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The Obama administration embarked on a National Rural Tour this week that will include discussions about green jobs, a new energy economy, climate change and renewable energies.

During an interview for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting with Michelle Rook of WNAX, Yankton, SD, Obama was asked about the role renewable fuels will play in the future for rural America. “Obviously, I come from a farm state – Illinois – and ethanol has been a big boon for a lot of rural communities,” the president said. “But we also are recognizing the key for us is to move into the next generation of biofuels, how can we use wood chips and refuse and switchgrass and how can we improve the efficiency of first generation biofuels. Farmers are going to be critical to that entire process.”

“We want to be able to compete with countries like Brazil that now are running basically their entire automobile fleet on biofuels,” he continued. “If Brazil can do it, there’s no reason why America can’t do it.”

Obama also commented on the climate change bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, saying that the legislation provides “a whole host of opportunities for rural communities to profit even as they are helping to achieve America’s energy independence.”

The first stop on the administration’s rural road trip was in Wattsburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday where the topic was rural broadband service. Future dates where energy will be the focus include July 18 in Ringgold, Virginia; August 12 in Bethel, Arkansas; and August 16 in Zanesville, Ohio.

Listen to Obama’s ethanol and climate bill comments here:

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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack counted progress toward energy independence among the Obama administration’s first 100 days accomplishments.

During a meeting in Washington DC with agricultural journalists this week, Vilsack said implementing the 2008 Farm Bill was his number one priority when he took the office of secretary. “The president gave me an instruction when he hired me to continue to promote renewable energy and biofuels, and for that reason we’ve been very focused on making sure that the energy title of the Farm Bill was accelerated in terms of rule making and in terms of making resources available to farmers and rural communities across the country,” said Vilsack.

Together with the Department of Energy, Vilsack said USDA has made $25 million available for research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy, and high-value biobased products.

The newly formed ethanol advocacy group, Growth Energy, has aggressive plans for attacking some of the major issues impacting the growth of biofuels.

During an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting, Growth Energy board member Greg Krissek of ICM said they want to “especially focus on the federal work being done on mid-level and higher level blends (of ethanol) but accelerate that.”

The new organization will be “working very closely together” with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). “As the industry gets bigger, it’s an opportunity for coalitions to be built of groups of producers,” said Krissek.

Growth Energy will also be aggressively fighting back against food companies that have been blaming ethanol production for higher food prices. “The question is simple – are food prices going to fall? Or was it really a disingenuous statement that was made,” Krissek said. The organization is requesting that Congress to hold hearings with food companies to ask them the question.

Listen an interview with Greg Krissek here: nafb-08-krissek.mp3

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Updated with recorded video

Hello from Washington, DC and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Washington Watch program. I’m covering their conference on our sister site, AgWired. Today at 1pm eastern time, I’ll be attending a press conference at the National Press Club being hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association. In attendance will be:

The Honorable John Block, former Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union (NFU)
Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA)
Rick Tolman, CEO, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA

The topic will be: “Farmers and Ethanol Industry to Present the Facts On Food Price Increases.” This topic just won’t go away and it’s at least in part due to the immense amount of misinformation being spread in the media, most notably this week, the Washington Post with their irresponsible series called, Global Food Crisis.

I’m hoping to be able to stream the press conference live this afternoon and you’ll be able to watch it here with the following player. Basically, starting at 1pm or within a few moments of that, you should be able to click on the player and see the live stream. A lot depends on the internet connection I’ll have there. In any case, I’ll also be recording it to post on Domestic Fuel as well.

Update: The live stream worked! Here is a recording of the first 20 minutes or so:

Here is some additional footage of today’s press conference:

Listen to the entire one hour plus press conference here: food-price-press-conf.mp3

You can see an online photo album from the press conference here: RFA Press Conference Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (28.6MB)

The development of agriculture-based biofuels is critical to revitalizing rural communities, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer.

Speaking to farm broadcasters meeting in Washington, Schafer said managing the blending of energy and agriculture is one of the top priorities for USDA. “If we over the next ten years could convert one-fourth of the four billion barrels of foreign oil that we import into this country into biofuels, not only would it increase the security of our country, it would double farm income,” said Schafer. “You can imagine if we doubled farm income in this country, what a revitalization would take place in rural areas.”

Regarding the concern about food and feed price increases relating to biofuels, “We need to remember that only about 25 percent of the corn crop goes into ethanol today and we have been able to stay ahead of that by yield increases,” Schafer said. “We have heard of this ‘perfect storm’ coming together – increased consumption, energy prices, biofuel generation, weather patterns – all those have come together to form this huge pressure on food and feed costs. I don’t think its a perfect storm.”

He explained, “When you have a storm, and you’re out on the calm sea, the storm comes in and jumbles everything up for awhile and then the storm goes away and the sea becomes flat again. The reality here is consumption and as consumption is increased we are not going to fall back.”

Schafer says corn ethanol will continue to be important in meeting the Renewable Fuels Standard and as a stepping stone towards cellulosic ethanol.

Listen to Schafer’s comments on biofuels here.
schafer-biofuels.mp3

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As we reported a couple of weeks ago, New Holland has approved the use of 100 percent biodiesel in all equipment with New Holland-manufactured diesel engines.

New Holland representatives Gene Hemphill and Michael Long were at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting last week talking with farm broadcasters about that announcement and other news from New Holland.

In an interview with Domestic Fuel, Long talked about the extensive testing and development New Holland has conducted using B100 in real-life conditions and the importance of using quality biodiesel from reputable dealers.

Here is an interview with Michael Long:
nafb-new-holland-biodiesel.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.9MB)

Ethanol was again was the main topic of discussion at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Trade Talk in Kansas City.

At the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council booth, Greg Krissek of ICM talked with reporters about the newly formed Renewable Fuels Now coalition. EPIC’s acting executive director Robert White discussed the progress of the ethanol “e” branding program and Director of Marketing Reece Nanfito talked about ethanol’s marketing success and new polling results that show continued support for biofuels among Americans. Ethanol producer POET also had a presence at Trade Talk with a focus on their production of livestock feed as an ethanol by-product

Over at the Renewable Fuels Association booth, Communications Director Matt Hartwig chatted with dozens of reporters about the importance of increasing the Renewable Fuels Standard and progress of the energy and farm bills in Washington. The National Corn Growers Association had several representatives from the grower leadership to talk about a variety of issues relating to ethanol production.

In fact, a vast majority of the 100 companies and organizations exhibiting at NAFB’s Trade Talk fielded ethanol questions. From the livestock producer groups talking about ethanol’s impact on feed prices, to input suppliers like Pioneer and John Deere talking about new products to increase production or how ethanol has revitalized the agricultural economy.

Ethanol was named “Product of the Year” by the National Agrimarketing Association for a good reason. Everybody’s talking about it.

Here is an interview with Reece Nanfito from Trade Talk:
nafb-epic-reece.mp3

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A recent pledge by the nation’s top automakers to produce more E85 vehicles is great news for the industry, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.

“The automobile manufacturers are behind this effort,” said NEVC Deputy Director Michelle Kautz. “Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Nissan all agreed that they’re going to have half their production flexible fuel by the year 2012. We’re very excited about that.”

The car makers issued a joint statement making that pledge after meeting with President Bush recently.

The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition recently published a 2007 E85 Purchasing Guide with the latest information on E85 and FFVs. The latest information is also available on the NEVC website.

“We update our website daily with new E85 locations and all flexible-fuel compatible vehicle models,” said Kautz.

There are currently over 1,000 E85 fueling stations, compared to just about 400 this time last year. By next year, Kautz says, “We’re hoping at least 5,000 stations.”

Listen to an interview with Michelle here: Kautz-NEVC (3 min MP3)

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Over the past decade, corn yields have been increasing an average of 3.4 bushels per acre per year. That is double the average of the previous decade and all indications are that will continue, which is good news for the corn ethanol industry.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International senior marketing manager Joe Foresman says regarding corn yields, “With the genetic advancements that have been made over the last ten years in the industry, literally the sky is the limit.” The latest forecast for corn yields in 2006 is 151.2 bushels/acre, up 3.3 from last year despite drought in many areas of the country.

Also good for the industry is the development of new hybrid varieties of corn that are highly fermentable – a desirable trait for ethanol production. Pioneer currently has 135 hybrids that are considered highly fermentable, including 17 of the 20 top selling varieties, but Foresman says they are also very aware of the needs on the livestock side of the corn business, since the ethanol production process creates about 17 pounds of distillers grains for every bushel of corn.

“We’re looking that we can help improve the value at the plant and also at the feedlot,” said Foresman.

Pioneer, which is a DuPont company, is also actively involved with DuPont on the development of cellulosic ethanol and biobutanol.

Listen to my interview with Joe Foresman at this year’s National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting: Pioneer (6 min MP3)

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The alliance known as 25X’25 has just completed a study that outlines the positive impact producing 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable sources by 2025 could have on rural America.

According to J. Read Smith, co-chair of the 25x’25 Project Steering Committee, “Not only would reaching the goal drastically reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, it would also have an extremely favorable impact on rural America and the nation as a whole. This report says we could see more than $700 billion in economic activity and 5.1 million new jobs.”

The economic analysis was conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee addressing two different scenerios:

The impacts of producing 25 percent of the nation’s electric power and motor vehicle fuels from renewable resources, utilizing findings from a new RAND report, and

A second scenario which outlines how agriculture and forestry resources could produce 25 percent of the nation’s total energy demands.

The press release from 25x’25 includes links to the full report and summary findings.

Here is an interview with J. Read Smith on the study and the goals of 25x’25: 25×25 (6 min MP3)

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