GoodFuels

Less Acres to Produce Bigger Corn Crop

In the September crop forecast out Friday morning, USDA is now calling for a near record corn crop for 2009 – at 13 billion bushels, just shy of the 2007 record – and a record soybean crop.

Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association notes that this bin buster is being produced on less acres. “What the report demonstrates is that we’re not needing additional land to produce the incremental amount of feedstock that we need as the ethanol industry grows,” Cooper said. “We’re producing a 13 billion bushel crop this year and we needed 6 1/2 million LESS acres to do it than in 2007. You are seeing acreage decrease each year as yields increase and total production increases.”

Cooper says this disputes the theory of indirect land use change and proves that U.S. farmers can very well produce food, feed and fuel. “The report drives another nail in the coffin of the food versus fuel argument,” said Cooper. “USDA is projecting increases in both the amount of corn we are feeding to livestock and the amount of corn going to export.”

In addition, RFA is pleased to congratulate Highwater Ethanol in Lamberton, Minnesota on its grand opening, held on the eighth anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks on American soil. “American farmers and ethanol producers are doing their part to enhance the security of this country and bolster our domestic food and fuel supplies,” said Cooper. “The opening of this plant on a day that has particular meaning to Americans is a good reminder of that.”

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features an interview with Geoff Cooper about these topics and others related to the good news of increased corn and ethanol production and what that means for our nation.

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:

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RFA CEO Visits Farm Progress Show

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen toured the 2009 Farm Progress Show last week in Decatur, Illinois and had the opportunity to visit many of the exhibits and talk with the farmers who produce the corn that makes ethanol.

“I wish that there were more policy makers, government officials, regulators here at this event to see how much progress has been made and see what modern agriculture is all about,” said Dinneen. “This is not your grandfather’s farm anymore!” He says with the second largest corn crop on record expected to be harvested this year, American farmers continue to prove that they can produce enough corn to make ethanol and feed the world as well.

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features an interview with Dinneen during his visit to the Farm Progress Show, where he discusses various ethanol issues on the front burner and his admiration for U.S. agriculture.

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:

Or you can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.

EPA Officials to Get Biofuels Education

A couple of high-ranking Environmental Protection Agency officials will be getting an education about ethanol, biodiesel and American agriculture this week during a visit to Iowa.

EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality director Margo Oge and Gina McCarthy with the Office of Air and Radiation are scheduled to tour a family farm and a biofuel facility in Iowa on Thursday, according to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

“We’ll begin the day with an information session, discussing low carbon fuel standards, corn and soybean technology, followed by information from the local EPA staff about Agstar program. We’ll then move to a family farm to learn about the work that farmers are doing to produce safe quality products in an environmentally friendly manner,” said the senator during a conference call with farm reporters last week. “Last, we’ll visit the Renewable Energy Group’s facility in Newton to get a tour and an overview, and update from the ethanol and biodiesel industries.”

Hopefully, the officials will come away with better information about industries they are responsible for regulating. During a Congressional hearing on the earlier this year, Oge got confused about how much corn and soybeans it took to produce a gallon of ethanol and biodiesel, respectively. This is very important because this person will be helping to implement the intent of Congress for the Renewable Fuel Standard with regard to indirect land use change. The video speaks for itself. Let’s hope she learns something this week in Iowa.

Corn Grower Concerns About Indirect Land Use

The National Corn Growers Association hosted a conference last week in St. Louis on “Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-based Ethanol” to highlight the problems associated with trying to measure indirect land use change using models based on subjective assumptions and unproven science.

NCGA CEO Rick Tolman says the main problem is vague direction that was put in the 2007 energy bill’s Renewable Fuels Standard. “We had some arcane language put in there that said we’ll take a look at indirect land change and its implications as an unintended consequence,” Tolman said. “What we think is there’s an unintended consequence of the unintended consequence, which may be that we may in fact start using more imported oil because of this language we have regulation that exceeds our ability to measure.”

Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association moderated the first panel at the conference which focused on the modeling used to determine land use change and how difficult this can be. “It’s a new area of study and certainly new to a regulatory framework,” Cooper said. “Using these models for these purposes involves lots of subjective decisions and judgement calls and when you put that in the context of a regulation, that’s problematic.”

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features comments from Tolman and Cooper, as well as NCGA Director of Biofuels & Business Development Jamey Cline and North Dakota grower Bart Schott.

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:

Or you can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.