America Needs More “Fiascos” Like Ethanol
In a recent opinion piece, commodity broker Dave Juday attempts to argue that America’s push to use renewable fuels to weaken our dependence on foreign oil is a “fiasco.” As is often the case with the opinions of anti-ethanol critics, the argument lacks context and a complete recital of the facts. If 400,000 jobs and 445 million fewer barrels of imported oil each year are a fiasco, then America could use a few more just like it.
A Fresh Look at Corn Stocks, Co-products, and Ethanol Production
According to the USDA quarterly grain stocks report released this morning, end stocks of corn for the 2010/2011 marketing year stand at 1.13 billion bushels. That is nearly 200 million bushels higher than many experts were predicting and an indication that the market is working to ensure sufficient supplies of corn remain available for all uses.
Posted in Agriculture, DDGS, Ethanol, Food, Production
More Ethanol, Fewer Inputs, Increasing Benefits: More corn on fewer acres, less water
Over the past 30 years, and in particular in the past decade, ethanol production has quietly become increasingly efficient. From improvements in corn production to greater efficiencies at ethanol biorefineries, America’s leading renewable fuel is providing more with less.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Food, Land Use, Production, Water
RFA to President Obama: Take pride in U.S. ethanol industry
In a letter sent to President Obama today, the Renewable Fuels Association urged the President to take pride in the U.S. ethanol industry, as they detailed the dynamic state of the industry. The letter was prompted by remarks the President made during his Twitter town hall event earlier this week, in which the President seemed to question the commitment of ethanol producers and advocates to innovation.
Posted in Ethanol, Food, Jobs, Production, USDA
Ethanol Policy and Meat Prices: Unspinning the Truth
Despite several anti-biofuels groups trying to spin results, a new study released by the Geneva-based International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) strongly supports the argument that biofuels policy has had almost nothing to do with food price increases in recent years. The study found that “…US ethanol subsidies during this period (2005-2009) had little impact on consumer prices and quite modest impacts on crop prices.”
Posted in Agriculture, Corn prices, Ethanol, Food, Research
Blaming biofuels won’t feed the hungry
It is en vogue for many international non-governmental organizations to blame biofuels for food insecurity and price volatility, as though such issues didn’t exist before the advent of biofuel production. Erroneously, many argue that simply stopping biofuel production will halt hunger as we know it. Unfortunately, these groups often contradict themselves and nearly universally fail to address the chief driver of food price increases: the soaring price of oil.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Food
FAO and GBEP: Biofuels an Opportunity - Not a Threat - for Developing Nations
Since its very inception, the global biofuels industry has unfairly been portrayed by some ardent detractors as a sector that creates an unavoidable “food vs. fuel” choice. Luddites and Malthusians have suggested that crop-based biofuels simply can’t provide significant volumes of energy for transportation without starving the world’s poor. Unfortunately, these extreme views of biofuels have sometimes been fortified by alarmist rhetoric and doomsday sound bites from leaders of major international organizations, quasi-governmental groups, and NGOs. Against this backdrop, it was quite refreshing to see two reports in the last week that highlight the extraordinary potential of biofuels to serve as agents of rural development and enhancers of food security in developing nations.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Energy, Food, Fuel, Land Use, Research
Talking Turkey on Ethanol, Distillers Grains
Distillers grains have become an important component of the livestock feed market. Still, some in the poultry industry would rather malign this nutrient-rich feed product in the hopes of returning to a day when they could buy corn from farmers below the cost of production. As the RFA pointed out, distillers grains are not going anywhere and their benefit in the livestock feed market cannot be dismissed.
Posted in Agriculture, Corn prices, Ethanol, Food, USDA
Food for Thought on a Friday
All Americans know it - the price of everything is up today. Many Americans recognize that the price of oil and the price of gasoline dictate the price of everything we buy. But some are seeking to mislead Americans by blaming domestic ethanol production.
Posted in Agriculture, Corn prices, Ethanol, Food, Speculators, USDA
Ethanol is helping form the backbone of a new rural economy
America's commitment to ethanol and renewable fuels has been a unparalleled success for rural America. It has created jobs, spurred economic activity, and even given some rural residents a reason and the opportunity to move back home. Yet, critics of ethanol would lead you to believe that ethanol is the scourage of rural America. A new paper from an anti-ethanol group, Food and Water Watch, goes so far as to compare domestic ethanol production to the illegal methamphetamine plague impacting rural areas. Like much of the rhetoric from those opposing ethanol, this paper is not based on the facts and takes poetic license to irresponsible levels.
Posted in Agriculture, Ethanol, Environment, Food, Fuel, Jobs, Oil, Production, Renewable Fuels
More Psuedo-Science and the Preposterous Claims of Anti-Ethanol Activists
A new pseudo-analysis published by the controversial and discredited Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons claims that biofuels expansion is increasing hunger and poverty-related health risks in developing nations. The four-page article was written by Indur Goklany, a long-time biofuels critic and contributor to the Cato Institute. Based on an ill-conceived and opaque method that misinterprets and misrepresents the findings of the World Bank and other researchers, the paper is nothing more than anti-farmer and anti-biofuel vitriol cloaked as real analysis. It simply can’t be taken seriously and it’s not at all surprising that the only publication that would ever consider publishing this piece would be the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Posted in Agriculture, Education, Ethanol, Food, Research
Charges and Changing - Helping Feed and Fuel the World
This week, the chairman of Nestlé, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, attacked ethanol as an “immoral” policy. It is a charge backed by lots of emotion, but very little fact. Here I present the facts about ethanol, without emotion or misplaced sanctimony.
Posted in Ethanol, Food, Production
Who Gets Your Food Dollar?
Food prices around the globe are rising and as a result, many are quickly searching for a scapegoat. Far too many are still recycling half-truths and misconceptions about the role of rising corn prices in food price escalation and demand for corn created by America’s ethanol industry. In a new look at the distribution of each dollar spent on food in the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found just 11.6 cents of each dollar spent makes its way back to the farm. In other words, the raw ingredients in retail food items account for just 12 cents of every consumer dollar spent, while energy costs, labor, transportation, packaging, and other supply chain costs account for the other 88 cents.
Posted in Agriculture, Corn prices, Ethanol, Food, Speculators, USDA
