Farmers quiz federal agriculture chief

IndyStar.com
By Bruce C. Smith
Posted: June 6, 2009

Vilsack urges technology, energy issues
Not everything Hendricks County farmers heard this week from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pleased them, but after hearing him speak in Danville, many said they are encouraged about the future of their industry and lifestyle.

David Hardin, 35, who runs a hog-and-grain operation of about 2,400 acres in western Hendricks County, with his father, John Hardin, said farmers often get mixed messages from Washington, D.C., about environmental and other issues.

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Ethanol Makers Still Trying to Catch a Break from Banks, Debt Holders

Seeking Alpha
June 07, 2009 by MARIE DAGHLIAN

A combination of lower oil prices and challenging financial markets continues to spell disaster for U.S. ethanol companies, with another 10 providers of this first-generation biofuel going belly up in the first five months of 2009. Among the latest was Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), which saw its shares swoon 44 percent to 32 cents on May 19 when five of its six ethanol-producing units filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company had gone public in 2005 with shares debuting at $12.95.

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Algae could become reliable jet fuel source

Dallas Morning News
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 7, 2009
By ED TIMMS / The Dallas Morning News etimms@dallasnews.com

Seawater algae – a cousin to pond scum – may someday become a significant source of fuel for military jets and airliners, and at the same time rejuvenate farmlands where tumbleweeds fill old irrigation ditches and abandoned cotton gins bake in the Texas sun.

Algae farmers conceivably could become the newest breed of Texas oilmen. For now, that's still a very big "if." Several scientific and technical obstacles must be overcome before the tiny plantlike organisms, which create unsightly rings on boat hulls and slime on fish tanks, can be turned into a viable fuel.

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CME extends agriculture, ethanol e-trading hours

Reuters
Fri Jun 5, 2009 12:58pm EDT

CHICAGO, June 5 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc (CME.O) said on Friday it would expand electronic trading of agricultural contracts by 75 minutes, effective July 1, in a move aimed at further boosting business on that platform.

"It allows customers based in Europe more time to trade during trading hours that are most convenient for them," said CME Group spokesperson Mary Haffenberg.

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Home Ethanol Maker

Fox 40 Sacramento, California
Lonnie Wong KTXL News
June 4, 2009

SACRAMENTO - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is endorsing a new mini-ethanol maker designed for home use. He is touting EFuel's MicroFueler as an example of new technology that can boost California's economy while reducing the reliance on foreign oil.

"It was really meant to be just like a gas station," said EFuel ethanol scientist Floyd Butterfield.The unit is the size of a refrigerator and was designed to look like a gasoline pump.

Plug it in, attach a garden hose, and add sugary organic waste and it produces up to ten gallons of ethanol a day. According EFuel engineers, that is twice the amount a typical family of two uses for their automobiles. The ethanol can also be used to power a generator to produce electricity.

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Over 100 RE applications swamp DoE

Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
June 5, 2009, 5:05pm

There have been influx of interests on renewable energy projects, making the Department of Energy (DoE) currently swamped with the task of reviewing over 100 applications.

Energy assistant secretary Mario Marasigan confirmed the "high level of interest" shown by prospective investors, but he stressed the proposals are still going through the department's review.

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Study highlights bioenergy's water footprint

CORDIS
[Date: 2009-06-04]

Researchers and industry actors are on the bandwagon to find alternative sources of energy, for example by replacing petrol with biofuels. The spotlight is now on the water footprint - the volume of fresh water used to produce goods and services for consumption.

New research from the Netherlands assesses the water footprint of bioenergy - the amount of water needed to cultivate crops for biomass. The study's findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Early Edition.

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Ethanol Production Could Jeopardize Soil Productivity

ScienceDaily

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2009) — There is growing interest in using crop residues as the feedstock of choice for the production of cellulosic-based ethanol because of the more favorable energy output relative to grain-based ethanol. This would also help provide a solution to the debate of food versus fuel, because less of the grain would be diverted to ethanol production, leaving more available for food and feed consumption.

Crop residues are viewed as a low cost and readily available source of material since more than 50% of crop production is residues. However, crop residues should not be considered simply a waste or benign material. They possess a critical role in sustaining soil organic matter.

Consequently, extensive removal of crop residues for ethanol production—or for other industrial purposes—may impact the long-term productivity of soils.

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Report: Ethanol policies support domestic fuel, American farms

Ethanol Producer Magazine June 2009
By Ryan C. Christiansen
Report posted June 3, 2009, at 2:10 p.m. CST

Researchers at the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute warn that if the U.S. allows the 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol to expire as scheduled at the end of 2010, imported Brazilian ethanol will displace domestic ethanol production and, due to decreased demand for corn, American farmers will suffer lost revenue. This is just one scenario outlined in a report from FAPRI titled “Impacts of Selected U.S. Ethanol Policy Options". The report was published in response to a request from several members of Congress.

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Agriculture: Will the yield keep growing?

StarTribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
By MATT McKINNEY, Star Tribune
Last update: June 3, 2009 - 10:44 AM

Corn yields seem to rise every year, along with demand. But the question is whether, even with genetic tinkering, the yields will continue to increase.

As farmers put the state's 2009 corn crop into the ground this month, they expect to grow more corn per acre than last year. And if history is any guide, they will.

Farmers today harvest more corn than their parents did a generation ago from the same fields, a fact made evident in historical charts that show corn yield over the past several decades as a steadily rising line.

So reliable is corn's growth of about 2 extra bushels per acre per year that government analysts folded it into their forecasts for this year's 12.1 billion bushel crop. It's just expected.

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