Articles in Agriculture
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) On June 11 the USDA Rural Business Cooperative Service has published a notice of contract proposals in the Federal Register, announcing the availability of $98.6 million for payments under …
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The USDA has announced $14 million payments to advanced biofuel 162 producers in 38 states under the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. The program awards payments to eligible producers …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, BIO begins the week with applause for Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee for including mandatory funding for …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) Legislation to reauthorize the Farm Bill energy title was introduced in the Senate Monday. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Rural Energy Investment Act to “help farmers, ranchers, and …
(US Department of Agriculture/Biodiesel Magazine) The USDA has proposed a series of changes to make it easier for agricultural producers and rural small businesses to apply for renewable energy and energy efficiency funding. USDA remains …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) As part of its ongoing review of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the House Energy & Commerce Committee recently asked stakeholders to comment on the impact of the RFS on the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Is there bio-based relief for the harried taxpayer in sight? Could conservationists, growers and biofuels producers find common ground in adapting the Conservation Reserve Program for bioenergy? Could the US …
by Ann Perry (US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service) A new strain of yeast that could help streamline cellulosic ethanol costs and production has been developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers. This …
by Tina Casey (TriplePundit) Just yesterday, we noted that auto manufacturers are beginning to shed their century-old love affair with petroleum, and now it seems that the agriculture sector is ready to move on, too.
On …
(Renewable Fuels Association) In seventeen pages of comments, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) answered questions put forth in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Assessment on Agricultural Sector …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is continuing its assessment of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The Committee has issued its second white paper focusing on “Agricultural Sector Impacts.” …
(US Senate Finance Committee) This document is the fourth in a series of papers compiling tax reform options that Finance Committee members may wish to consider as they work towards reforming our nation’s tax system. This …
by Douglas L. Faulkner with contributions from Jacques Beaudry-Losique (Biofuels Digest) …We believe it is time for bioenergy industry leaders to take the initiative and chalk up a new comprehensive game plan, reflecting the new reality …
This webinar (First in this series) will focus on the current and past policies which drive or hinder (as the case may be) the emerging biofuels industry. In this webinar, participants will explore the similarities …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has unveiled a list of 10 ways the renewable fuels industry is helping to improve the environment. According to IRFA, renewable fuels offer positive impacts …
by U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation/Biomass Magazine) After a briefing by senior White House staff on April 17, following their arrival in the U.S., an Israeli delegation of top academic and industrial biofuels research scientists and …
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Two members of Pres. Obama’s cabinet today have signed their names to an agreement that will extend the administration’s commitment to the production of biofuels for use in airplanes. Secretary of …
by Charles Abbott (Reuters) The White House will decide in coming weeks whether to attempt to blunt low prices in the U.S. sugar market by buying hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus sugar and …
(US Department of Agriculture/Federal Register) This Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) announces the acceptance of applications under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for Fiscal Year 2013 for financial assistance as follows: grants, guaranteed …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting applications for federal REAP funds to help gasoline retailers install blender pumps designed to give consumers flexibility and choice in …
by Diana Johnsen (KCAUTV.com) …The Jackson Express Gas station in Jackson, Nebraska has what are called ethanol “blender pumps”, which allows drivers to customize how much ethanol goes into their fuel.
And the more ethanol, the …
(Associated Press/Quad Cities Times) U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack signed an agreement Friday with DuPont that will help establish guidelines for how the company will collect corn-plant residue for a new ethanol plant in central …
(25 x ’25) The ethanol industry has some good news to share. And it comes in an arena where the domestically produced biofuel has often been challenged – carbon sequestration and the life-cycle assessment of …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) In the heart of Wisconsin, a project is underway to produce energy from a resource that is in little danger of running low: cow manure, or “brown gold.” Thanks to a …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The first wave of cellulosic biofuels projects are now reaching completion. But what does the next wave look like – from technology to financing? We explore the trends in our …
(Domtar) Plymouth Mill to produce bio-material with wide range of industrial applications as petro-chemical alternative – the first of its kind in over quarter century
Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today announced that it has successfully …
(PR NewsWire/ZeaChem) Facility will prove biorefining process for commercial-scale production
ZeaChem Inc., developer of highly-efficient biorefineries, today announced that it has produced commercial-grade cellulosic chemicals and ethanol at its 250,000 gallons per year (GPY) biorefinery in Boardman, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Recommendations from the Milken Institute — and a group of industry heavyweights — to accelerate the bioeconomy revolution.
In California this week, the Milken Institute released a good read on the …
(BioTechNow) Last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote a column talking about the unlimited opportunities for biofuels to grow the rural economy. He highlighted what the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has already done to support …
by Col. Bill Holmberg (ret.) (American Council On Renewable Energy) “Up with octane, down with aromatics, and embrace the needs of people and nature,” says ACORE’s legendary biomass guru. But less freak-out, more reach-out is …
by Jim Lane (BioBased Digest) … It is a program that encourages companies to voluntarily register the amount of biobased content in their products — and, for those that pass a minimum content threshold, the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In the new USDA long-term forecasts, rising global meat consumption stands out as a driver of rising food prices, exports.
…But you might ask yourself — in a world where you …
(U.S. Department of Agriculture) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released two comprehensive reports today that synthesize the scientific literature on climate change effects and adaptation strategies for U.S. agriculture and forests. The reports, entitled Climate Change and Agriculture: …
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) On Feb. 11 the USDA released a report detailing its agricultural projections for the next 10-year period. According to the paper, titled “USDA Agricultural Projections to 2022,” long-run developments …
by Ann Perry (US Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Corn crop residues are often left on harvested fields to protect soil quality, but they could become an important raw material in cellulosic …
by Douglas L. Faulkner (“The Cleantech Conservative”/BiofuelsDigest) … That is, the cost of renewed tax breaks for the biofuels industry came at a great cost relative to the benefits gained. Being lumped in with Hollywood filmmakers, rum …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Like it or not, corn and corn ethanol production are large, established industries in the U.S. While they provide significant economic, energy, and environmental benefits for our …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) According to a new study performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, corn grown using no-till methods may sequester larger amounts of carbon than previously believed. The study was published in …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) The USDA estimates that farmers in the U.S. will plant nine million more acres in corn in 2013 than they did in 2011, an increase of almost 10 …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In Maryland, The Wildlife Society released a Technical Review, “Effects of Bioenergy Production on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat,” to provide answers to questions on bioenergy development and wildlife so that …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) The Agriculture Energy Coalition (AgEC) today urged Congress to begin work on a new five-year Farm Bill with strong mandatory funding for energy programs.
The coalition notes that programs included in the …
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says the future success of biofuels in this country is also tied to successfully getting a new five-year farm bill passed. Speaking to delegates of the …
(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a state-of-the-art bioindustrial facility at Renmatix today, where he announced $25 million to fund research and development of next-generation renewable energy and high-value biobased products from …
(The Town Talk) The LSU AgCenter Audubon Sugar Institute plans a Jan. 25 opening for a pilot plant designed to produce biofuels and biochemicals from agricultural crops and byproducts.
The centerpiece of the AgCenter’s sustainable bioproducts …
(Renmatix/Sacramento Bee) Building on success in hardwood, Philadelphia-based Renmatix adds on-site capability to convert multiple local and international feedstocks to cellulosic sugar
Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of cellulosic sugars for biobased chemical and fuel markets, welcomed …
by Luke Geiver (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The Biomass Crop Assistance Program may have been extended through 2013 with the passing of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, but the program’s usefulness in the coming …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) …The bad news is, all mandatory funding for energy title programs were stripped from the farm bill at the last moment. “The programs have lived, but they don’t have …
by Sean Hubbard (EdmondSun.com) The U.S. Department of Agriculture, United Sorghum Checkoff Program, Oklahoma Bioenergy Center and the South Central Sun Grant Program have taken note and funded the majority of the research of Danielle …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Four tax provisions were in the bill that directly impact biofuels.
Cellulosic biofuels producer tax credit. … The provision would extend this production tax credit for one additional year, for cellulosic biofuel …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) What do people in the Southeast think about biofuels? Do they support biofuel ventures? Who will grow the biomass? Will those in established industries fight against it? These are just a …
(The State Journal) Researchers from West Virginia University are exploring the economic and environmental impacts of wood biomass utilization in rural central Appalachia.
The Morgantown school says the team was recently awarded a nearly $350,000 grant …
(Associated Press/Times Union) Energy from willows is moving out of the experimental stage and into commercial production in New York.
Farms are growing willow shrubs and selling them to a utility, a nursery sells them commercially and …
(ClarionLedger.com) A team of Mississippi State University agricultural economists recently received U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to study policies impacting biofuel supply chains.
Keith Coble is the principal investigator for a project to develop a model …
by Chris Berendt (The Sampson Independent) Chemtex International Inc. is currently involved in a permitting process that will see a $200 million biofuels refinery production plant open at the start of 2015, creating around 350 direct …
by Sarah Bittleman (Dairy Herd/USDA) Rob Green’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed “The cause of higher grocery bills isn’t the drought. It’s the failed federal ethanol policy” fails to take into consideration a host of factors, other than …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Unofficial reports indicate that biofuels provisions have survived a House-Senate conference over the Defense bill.
According to sources, House and Senate conferees have finished work on their conference report on the …
(WebWire) Biofuels made from high yield, short rotation woody crops or from forest residuals and thinnings that are currently left unused have substantial potential to reduce CO2 emissions as well as to contribute to energy …
by Stephanie Strom (New York Times) A blue-ribbon panel of scientific and technology advisers to President Obama warns that the nation risks losing its longstanding supremacy in food production because research in agriculture has not kept up …
(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $10 million in research grants to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Policy, finance, technology, feedstocks, markets, prices, opposition. Here’s what’s on your mind, as the critical 2013 deployment year for biofuels looms.
So here are 15 burning questions as suggested by various …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the US Senate voted 54-41 in favor of an amendment offered by Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina to repeal section 2823 of the annual Defense appropriations bill.
Sec. …
by Laura Crozier (Delaware Biotechnology Institute) As part of a five-year, $50,000 grant supporting state greenhouse gas reduction projects, the Delaware Biotechnology Institute has partnered with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control…
The …
(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager today (November 16, 2012) announced payments to 189 companies to support the production and expansion of advanced biofuels.
“These payments support the nation’s expanding …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the US Senate voted 62-37 in favor of an amendment offered by Senator Mark Udall of Colorado to repeal section 313 of the annual Defense appropriations bill.
Section 313 …
The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced that it has posted presentations from the 4th International Conference on Biofuels Standards: Current Issues, Future Trends on its web site. The purpose of the meeting was …
(U.S. Department of Agriculture) In January 2012, USDA launched its brand new Energy Web site. The site contains agricultural, economic, and social data on renewable energy to assist stakeholders, public users, state and local government in …
(USDA Agricultural Research Service) From 1850 to 1950, the Tri-State Mining District of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma produced 50 percent of the zinc and 10 percent of the lead in the United …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A total of $16 million in investment for 244 projects received funding from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, including several blender pumps and a few biomass-related projects. …
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The UDSA Foreign Agricultural Service recently published a Global Agricultural Information Network report outlining Spain’s ethanol industry. The report,” titled “Spain’s Bioethanol Standing Report,” notes that the country is …
by Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World) …Armed with a $200,000 U.S.D.A. two-year research grant, Fernando Resende will start work on a fast pyrolysis mobile reactor next year that could revolutionize how foresters and the timber industry …
(Pennsylvania State University) The Northeast could help lead the way to a renewable-energy-based economy by utilizing marginal and abandoned land to grow energy crops such as perennial grasses and fast-growing woody plants.
That’s the goal of …
(Primus Green Energy) New Northeast Consortium Tasked With Developing Perennial Biomass Feedstock Production Systems
As part of its continued effort to drive the commercialization of alternative fuels, Primus Green Energy Inc. an alternative fuel company based …
by Kristofor Husted (KBIA) In the parched, rolling hills of western Missouri, you might expect to see a desolate scene after this summer’s drought. But in this field, hip-high native grass sways across the landscape like …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A drought tolerant grass known as elephant grass or napiergrass that is fed to cattle in the tropics is being studied as a possible cellulosic ethanol feedstock in …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …We say that biofuels are “capital-intensive,” mainly to be polite. It’s like saying that Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great or Attila the Hun had “land interests”.
…Put it this way. How much …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the Romney campaign issued a long-awaited white paper on agricultural policy. Among the highlights:
…“He will not only accelerate the development of conventional energy sources, but also advance new technologies …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Those momentum killers. Company wreckers. The investor flight-inducing crevasses along the route to the top – that take away a level playing field, remove your access to markets, delay a …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The next five years—the often scoffed mantra of cellulosic ethanol developers—is getting whittled down to the next year or two. A milestone was reached this year when Blue Sugars …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Every biofuels contender has its own route to the top – with unique advantages and technical challenges. Who is nearing the Summit, what’s their Hillary Step, who’s got Sherpas, who’s …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Growing crude oil as a crop – Sapphire Energy and its Green Crude Farm – can it be the sunlight in your universe and change the world? What does it look …
by Roy Roberson (Southeast Farm Press) • Sounds like a good deal for grain growers and a bad one for livestock producers and consumers, but are such high prices really good for any of us?
• …
by Tim Carpenter (Topeka Capital Journal) Grants of $20.5 million offer twist to ethanol plant, farm machinery
A $15.9 million investment of federal economic stimulus cash by Gov. Sam Brownback hangs on an Oakley ethanol plant’s …
by Jason Mick (Daily Tech) New method could repurpose existing equipment, improve the efficiency of biodiesel extraction
Biodiesel production tends to boil down (no pun intended) to one of two methods –repurposing waste oil to auto-capable fuel or …
(US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) …Of the five regions, the Southeast has the greatest natural capacity in the continental United States, with sufficient sunshine, soils, water, and other natural resources to produce more …
(Phys.Org) Sweet sorghum is primarily grown in the United States as a source of sugar for syrup and molasses. But the sturdy grass has other attributes that could make it uniquely suited to production as …
(Biodiesel Magazine/USDA) US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Energy for Navy Tom Hicks toured the USS Monterey (CG 61) at the Naval Station Norfolk (Va.) on Saturday, Sept. 8, and …
by Nigel Hunt and Veronica Brown (Reuters) * USDA report paints less severe corn crop picture than feared
* FAO says situation seems comfortable
* Analysts still wary on prices as U.S. corn harvest in early stages
The …
by John Ramsey (Fayetteville Observer) The grass grows as tall as two men and thick as a jungle.
This, farmers across the Cape Fear region keep hearing, is the future of ethanol. The giant miscanthus is …
by Todd Atkinson ( US Department of Agriculture Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service/Biomass Magazine) Since the 20th century, scientists have worked to cure cancer. They have yet to succeed.
Many researchers develop hypotheses that end in disappointment, with …
by Drew Kershen (BioFortified) …I do not write to enter the debate focused on fuel standards, markets and commodity speculators. I acknowledge that other factors also contribute to food crises, particularly in developing nations – …
Martin Lamonica (MIT Technology Review) Sapphire Energy has started operation of its demonstration-scale algae farm, a project which perhaps brings more clarity to an industry debate over the best way to grow algae.
The San Diego-based …
by Ann Perry (US Department of Agriculture Agriculture Research Service) A gene that keeps switchgrass forever young could have far-reaching implications for the development of the plant as a biofuel crop, according to U.S. Department of …
by Michael Sheffield (Memphis Business Journal) Infinite Enzymes LLC has received a $450,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to advance its enzyme development technology.
This is the second Small Business …
by Dan Chapman (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) … In a blistering critique obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, (Hosein) Shapouri (a senior economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington) labeled the proposed Range Fuels plant …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Despite low levels of publicity, North Dakota and Montana are making great strides in bioeconomy development – with a combination of strong R&D, feedstock abundance and some hot processing technologies.
…The …
by Ken Silverstein (Forbes) …By most standards, the hope that is such first-generation fuel additives are supplanted by next-generation ones, or those produced from cellulose. Worth it?
Such fibers are abundant and could supply 130 million …
(PR NewsWire/Sapphire Energy) Initial Phase of World’s First Green Crude Farm Completed On Time and On Budget
Sapphire Energy, Inc., one of the world leaders in algae-based green crude oil production, today announced the first phase …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Renewable biomass has a significant potential to improve U.S. energy security, advance rural economic development and energy security, protect and restore water quality and other environmental resources, and …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Cleaner, more sustainable, more climate-friendly, more affordable advanced biofuels are closer to reality than many outside the industry seem to think. At least three new, advanced biofuel biorefineries are being …
(Delta Farm Press) A coalition of 39 of the nation’s foremost agricultural organizations has formed in an effort to raise public awareness of the need for Congress to pass a new, comprehensive, five-year farm bill before …
