Dean Taylor (Des Moines Register/Iowa Corn Growers Association) ...Iowa farmers have made measurable progress in conservation and water quality. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, farmers' use of nitrogen and phosphorus per bushel has been drastically reduced over the
corn/maize
Back TO HOMEExport Exchange Conference Zeros in on Supply
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) U.S. farmers will continue to produce an abundance of food and feed for both the domestic and international markets. This was an often repeated message at the Export Exchange, a conference focused on connecting
October 14, 2010 Read Full Article
First Corn-Powered Train Closer to Reality
by National Corn Growers Association (Natural Resource Report) ... “AHL-TECH has developed an ethanol-hybrid locomotive to capitalize on the growing ethanol market in the United States and to replace the railroad industry’s aging diesel-electric locomotive fleet,” said Tom Mack, president and
October 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Ethanol Gets Iowa Football Fans Pumped Up
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) Did you know that 60 cents of each gallon of E85 purchased stays in the state of Iowa? I didn’t know that until I participated in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day pump rally at Riverside,
September 13, 2010 Read Full Article
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson Discusses Farm Bill Issues with Saratoga County Farmers
by Paul Post (The Saratogan) ...For local dairy producers, one of the most pressing concerns is ethanol production that drives up corn prices — hurting small family farms in the process. ..."We’ve got a big problem in the ethanol industry," (House
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
China May Absorb South Africa’s Grain Surplus - Agriculture Ministry
by Hopewell Radebe (Business Day/Reuters) The government yesterday brought hope to grain farmers who are struggling to find alternative markets to dispose of surplus maize following a bumper crop that drove prices down. ... Last month, Grain SA chairman Neels Ferreira called for the
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Water: Is There Enough for Biofuels at Scale?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In a note at CO2science.org, a trio of authors contend: “There simply is not enough freshwater on the face of the earth to make the production of biofuels a viable and significant alternative to the
August 25, 2010 Read Full Article
APOV: A Strong Case for Ethanol
by John M. Sawyer and Michael C. Sawyer (The Daily News) ...Corn ethanol is not responsible for destruction of forest land. Total U.S. crop acres are actually declining, total U.S. land devoted to crops will be 346 million acres in
August 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Chinese Experts Urge Government to Halt Corn-Based Ethanol Production on Price, Food Security Concerns
(People's Daily) China's industrial experts are advising the government to halt projects making ethanol bio-fuel with corn, as the projects are pushing up corn prices and sparking food security concerns. Zhao Youshan, director of the Commercial Petroleum Flow Committee (CPFC) under
August 12, 2010 Read Full Article
The Mad Scramble over the Ethanol Tax Credit
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, the Environmental Working Group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Meat Institute, and several members of congress are among the main players in a
July 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Using Biofuel Tax Credits to Achieve Energy and Environmental Policy Goals
(Congressional Budget Office) The federal government supports the use of biofuels—transportation fuel produced usually from renewable plant matter, such as corn—in the pursuit of national energy, environmental, and agricultural policy goals. Tax credits encourage the production and sale of biofuels
July 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn and Cellulosic Ethanol Fight for Viability, Government Favor
(HybridCars) ...It's been more than four years since then-President George W. Bush told the country in his State of the Union speech that it would soon be using corn, wood chips and switch grass to power its automobiles. Biofuels, Bush
July 14, 2010 Read Full Article
MO Ethanol Plant Helps Feed Hungry
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel) ...“While sweet corn isn’t something we normally plant in these fields, we realize there are people in our community and in the city facing tough times,” said Billy Thiel, MCGA board member and corn grower from
July 13, 2010 Read Full Article
RFA Response to San Francisco Chronicle “Dead Zone” Article
(Renewable Fuel Association) ...Let’s start with what the scientists say. Those scientists who served on federal agency panels convened in recent years to examine hypoxia issues concluded that the hypoxia zone has many causes and it is difficult—if not impossible—to positively
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
Dead Zone in Gulf Linked to Ethanol Production
by Carolyn Lochhead (San Francisco Chronicle) While the BP oil spill has been labeled the worst environmental catastrophe in recent U.S. history, a biofuel is contributing to a Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" the size of New Jersey that scientists say could
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
25 Million Acres of Corn with Nowhere to Go, by 2030? A Digest Special Report
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...(D)oomsayers who have been predicting an inevitable conflict between food and fuel appear to have been completely off the mark. Rather than a shortage of food, the increased pace of biotechnology innovation associated with bioenergy is
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
USDA Releases Corn-Ethanol Industry Report Showing Improving Energy Efficiency
(USDA) USDA's Chief Economist Joseph Glauber today announced the publication of a report by the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses that surveyed corn growers for the year 2005 and ethanol plants in 2008, which indicates the net energy gain
June 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Transformative Technology: SynGest Cornucopia BioRefinery
by Jack Oswald (SynGest, Biofuels Digest) ...The SynGest Cornucopia model takes an entire ear of corn and simultaneously produces The Three F’s: food, fertilizer and fuel. This is why we have adopted the slogan: “You can have your fuel and
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
'Psychedelic' Maize May Help Increase Crop and Biofuel Yields
(Science Daily) ...(S)cientists from Pennsylvania State University have identified new genes in maize which promote carbohydrate export from leaves. These genes are called psychedelic because of the yellow and green streaks they cause in the plant's leaves. Manipulating these genes
June 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Indiana Farmers Are Producing Ethanol for the Middle East
by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today) Indiana corn is regularly exported as food and feed; but, now, more and more Indiana corn is moving onto the world market as fuel. The US ethanol industry is experiencing rapid export growth. In
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Growing U.S. Export: Corn ethanol
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) The United States has a growing new export – ethanol fuel – and a lot is going to of all places the Middle East. New government data shows that nearly 46 million gallons of U.S.
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Growth Energy Responds to Cornell Paper
In response to a paper published by two Cornell University professors – a paper that is critical of the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations that grain ethanol emits far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional gasoline – Growth Energy released the
February 25, 2010 Read Full Article
EPA Greenhouse Gas Accounting Is Flawed and Inaccurate, Cornell Experts Say
A recent EPA announcement that corn-based ethanol achieves a 21 percent greenhouse gas reduction compared to gasoline is based on false accounting assumptions and could actually lead to more fossil fuel consumption, according to Cornell University economists whose research will
February 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Eco-Biofuels from the Tropics
Palm oil from South-East Asia, sugarcane from Brazil and sweet sorghum in China are the most sustainable energy crops at present. Maize from the US and wheat in Europe have a much more negative environmental impact. This conclusion was drawn
February 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn and Fuel Groups Weigh In on Ethanol
(New York Times) letters to editor Re “Sensible Rules for Ethanol” (editorial, Feb. 11): While American corn farmers are pleased the Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that corn ethanol offers significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared with gasoline, we disagree strongly
February 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Is Ethanol from Corn Bad for the Climate? The Obama Administration Says No, California Says Yes. Who Is Right?
by Douglas Fischer (Scientific American) The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel – in apparent contradiction to California's declaration last summer that the biofuel's carbon footprint was too big to
February 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Southland Panel Rejects Funds for Ethanol Fueling Stations
by Catherine Saillant (Los Angeles Times) Members of the Southern California Assn. of Governments reject $11 million in federal stimulus money to set up 55 stations throughout the Southland. They say ethanol causes environmental problems. A regional panel Thursday turned
February 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn Ethanol is a Homegrown Way to Solve Our Energy Problems
by Katie Zenk (MNDaily.com) letter to the editor Over break, I had the chance to think about the recent Minnesota Daily editorial attacking corn ethanol. My hometown is Olivia, Minn., billed “The Corn Capital of the World.” Of the roughly
February 10, 2010 Read Full Article
How Many Corn Acres Are Needed In 2010?
by Darrel Good (University of Illinois and Cattle Network) ...Planting decisions for individual crops in the spring of 2010 will be influenced by a number of factors. These include relative crop prices, prospects for net returns for completing crops, and
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Wildlife Report Picks and Chooses Data
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has analyzed a new report out from the National Wildlife Federation on “Corn Ethanol and Wildlife” and found it lacking in accuracy. ... The RFA analysis concludes that “selective and questionable
January 22, 2010 Read Full Article
One quarter of US Grain Crops Fed to Cars - Not People, New Figures Show
by John Vidal (The Guardian) One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the
January 22, 2010 Read Full Article
The Energetics of Ethanol: An Introduction and Link to Studies
(New Rules Project) Does it take more energy to make ethanol than is contained in ethanol? That question continues to haunt the ethanol industry even after nearly 30 years of expanding production. Over the years more than 20 scientific studies
January 06, 2010 Read Full Article
Market Interactions, Farmers' Choices, and the Sustainability of Growing Advanced Biofuels: a Missing Perspective?
by Yong Jiang and Scott M. Swinton (International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology) Advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are of great interest in the USA. With agriculture being the major source of feedstock for advanced biofuels, how farmers would
December 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Wet Ethanol Process Yields More Ethanol
(UPI) ... University of Illinois scientists, led by agricultural engineering researcher Esha Khullar, said the wet ethanol process involves soaking corn kernels rather than grinding them, resulting in more gallons of ethanol ... and better quality co-products than does the
November 22, 2009 Read Full Article
Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Ethanol
(Journal of Industrial Ecology) Corn-ethanol production is expanding rapidly with the adoption of improved technologies to increase energy efficiency and profitability in crop production, ethanol conversion, and coproduct use. Life cycle assessment can evaluate the impact of these changes on
October 13, 2009 Read Full Article
Indiana Corn Acres Decrease as Ethanol Production Increases
(Hoosier Ag Today, Indiana Corn Marketing Council) For the last five years, Madison County farmer Mike Shuter has maintained the same crop rotation on his farm of two-thirds of his fields in corn and one-third in soybeans. He hasn’t seen
October 07, 2009 Read Full Article
U.S. Ethanol from Corn Could Double by 2030
by Charles Abbott (Reuters) U.S. farmers could grow enough corn to produce 25 billion gallons of ethanol in 2030, twice as much as this year's target of 12 billion gallons, said the leader of a U.S. corn group on Thursday.
October 02, 2009 Read Full Article
Nebraska, Nation, Looking at Record Corn Production
(the Nebraska Farmer) ... USDA estimates that Nebraska corn farmers will bring in 1.55 billion bushels of corn this year and average 169 bushels per acre. Both numbers would be records--with production surpassing the 1.47 billion produced in 2007 and
October 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Rethinking the Value of Corn Ethanol Co-Products in Lifecycle Assessments
by Dave Vander Griend (Ethanol Across America) ...As commodity prices have returned closer to norms prior to the dramatic speculation-driven increase, we need to take a deep breath and understand the truth. We are meeting the increase in demand for
August 29, 2009 Read Full Article
USDA Report Confirms Advances in Feedstock Production Technology, Practices
(25 x25) The USDA reported last week that American farmers are expected to produce 12.3 billion bushels of corn, the second largest U.S. corn crop in history. After estimating all of the uses of corn, USDA projects an excess corn
July 21, 2009 Read Full Article
Who is Driving the Biofuels and Biobased Products Industry?
One of the common frustrations that these leaders face is that the research and government organizations come to them for ideas or product samples, but instead of treating them as the drivers of innovation, they are treated as one of
January 10, 2008 Read Full Article
It Takes a Lot of Water to Grow a Corn Crop
by David Bennett (Southeast Farm Press) Last year, many Southern farmers found out just how much water a corn crop requires. “A good, high-yielding corn crop will use 22 or 23 inches of water,” says Emerson Nafziger, professor of crop production
December 30, 2007 Read Full Article
How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!
by Adam Lashinsky and Nelson D. Schwartz (CNN Money/Fortune Magazine) You probably don't know it, but the answer to America's gasoline addiction could be under the hood of your car. More than five million Tauruses, Explorers, Stratuses, Suburbans, and other vehicles