It’s a bird, it’s a plane …. it’s a flying ear of corn!
You can see this piece of aerial artwork at Gate E-16 in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It is one of a number of pieces that became a part of the international Concourse E at the airport when it was built in 1996 to make way for the Centennial Olympic Games.
“Each gate has a unique installation by an artist from the southeastern region of the United States,” according to the airport website. “Peppered through the rest of the concourse are additional artworks and displays. As a result, Concourse E has the Airport Art Program’s largest collection of permanent and site-specific art. We hope that passengers from around the world leave Concourse E delighted, intrigued and with a sense of the complex culture of the American South.”
The flying corn is called “Corncorde” and the artist is Craig Nutt. “From Nutt’s “Flying Vegetable” series, the design was inspired by jetliners. With its wings swept back, leaping into flight the corn is propelling upward to cruising altitude. This humorous work was hand-carved by Nutt from wood and painted to capture the details of this indigenous American crop.
To accompany the flying corn, Nutt created an air traffic control tower. Nothing is more appropriate to guide the “Corncorde” on its journey than a tower composed of a giant carrot and motorized spinning butter bean also made out of carved and painted wood.”
Now in its 55th year of operation and going strong, the National Corn Growers Association continues its role in creating and increasing opportunities for its farmer members, and a new series of interviews with current and former grower leaders demonstrates this success over the years.
From the introduction to the series:
Corn growers have increasingly stepped beyond the farm itself to influence changes that affect their ability to operate. One of the most important steps came in 1957, when farmers saw the need for a stronger voice on corn issues in Washington and decided to establish the National Corn Growers Association.
It has been farmers, in each generation since then, who have spoken for their neighbors and their industry on a roster of issues that began with agricultural policy and now includes infrastructure, energy, biotechnology, conservation, research, and education about production agriculture.
Their stories are a study in grower initiative, leadership, and change. In the weeks to come, NCGA will share some of the corn industry’s success in the words of the farmers who experienced this innovation and change first hand.
Earlier this week, the federal district court judge who ruled California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to be unconstitutional denied a motion to continue implementation of the law.
In response, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) decided to appeal to a new court in the 9th Circuit in hopes of a different outcome.
You may remember that the district court last month ruled that the LCFS “discriminates against out-of-state corn-derived ethanol and impermissibly regulates extraterritorial conduct” and that the CARB failed to establish that there are no alternative methods to advance its goals of reducing GHG emissions to combat global warming.
To make an analogy, the California LCFS is like Iowa deciding to ban California wine because they determined through some model that it has a higher carbon footprint than wines produced in Italy or France or Spain, which are the three countries that rank higher than California in wine production. (The United States ranks fourth in terms of countries, but California produces 90% of U.S. wine)
No doubt California would be up in arms if that were to happen.
The ethanol industry has led the challenge against the California LCFS, but it has an unlikely ally in a diverse multi-state coalition that is primarily concerned with the rule’s impact on oil and gas. The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a coalition of over 170 energy consumer groups and 300,000 individual members across the United States, is also one of the plaintiffs opposing the regulation.
“Not only is an LCFS unconstitutional, but it would also hurt the California economy, farmers, consumers and truckers by raising fuel prices sharply and burdening consumers,” said CEA Executive Vice President Michael Whatley. The CEA’s main concern about the California LCFS is the potential for it to be used to prevent certain sources of petroleum from being converted into fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene and heating oil and that it could adopted nationwide, resulting in lost jobs and declining household revenue.
“The decision by CARB to appeal the decision by the District Court is disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising. We look forward to a decision by the Ninth Circuit upholding the District Court and confirming the unconstitutional nature of California’s low carbon fuel standard,” said Whatley, urging CARB to “scrap this faulty program” instead of appealing the decision.
I was sitting at the airport Tuesday night, waiting on a delayed flight back from the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Des Moines and desperately trying to ignore the tired and whiny two-year-old at the gate, as well as the live broadcast of the State of the Union address on the TV monitor.
When President Obama mentioned clean energy, however, I started paying attention to him, in spite of the 2-year-old. “We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough,” the president said. “It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising.”
My jaw hit the ground. It was a theme I had heard repeatedly at the summit during the day, starting with the opening address by Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) executive director Monte Shaw. “Today the oil industry enjoys billions of dollars in tax subsidies while the renewable fuels industry has none,” said Shaw, proceeding to name off all of the subsides unique to the oil industry.
It’s a long list that requires a high-price accountant to understand – not a problem for the oil industry! Percentage depletion allowance, marginal oil well incentives, enhanced oil recovery credits, intangible drilling costs expensing, deduction for tertiary injectants, exception from passive loss limitations for oil and gas, etc. According to a DTN analysis, the total comes to about $17.9 billion a year.
All of it goes back to the inception of the tax code in 1913. What that means is simply that these subsidies, unlike the meager tax credit that helped the ethanol industry for a fraction of that time, are EMBEDDED in our tax code. They are never going to expire.
So, that begs the question of whether Congress will ever do anything to get rid of those subsidies. It will not be an easy process. But, like the president said, a century is long enough. If the ethanol industry is now mature enough after about 20 years to stand on its own, surely the oil industry can do so.
Big plans have been announced for American Ethanol‘s second NASCAR season.
The announcements were made at the NASCAR Preview 2012 event over the weekend in Charlotte, N.C. First of all, American Ethanol announced that it will continue relationships with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) and RAB Racing for the 2012 season. Pictured here are the American Ethanol drivers for the teams. Kenny Wallace (left) will drive the No. 09 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for RAB Racing. Austin Dillon, 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, will drive the No. 3 Chevrolet during the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season for RCR.
That No. 3 Chevrolet is the same one that carried Dale Earnhardt Jr. to four NASCAR Nationwide series championships and it will feature a new American Ethanol paint scheme that was unveiled during the preview event. American Ethanol will serve as the primary sponsor for six Nationwide series races as well as one race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2012.
Both drivers are excited about being able to represent homegrown fuel in the NASCAR races. “I’m proud to carry the American Ethanol colors in NASCAR,” said Dillon, who is one of team owner Richard Childress’ grandsons. “I am looking forward to representing American Ethanol, Growth Energy and the National Corn Growers Association.”
American Ethanol was established by National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and Growth Energy with NASCAR starting with the 2011 racing season, the same year that NASCAR switched its fuel to Sunoco Green E15. “American Ethanol is getting a lot of positive attention because it’s a good fit for NASCAR’s green initiative, and because of the increased horsepower on the track,” said NCGA President Garry Niemeyer. “Our partnership with RCR and RAB Racing will assure continued success in letting the American public know that if ethanol can stand the stress these drivers put it through, it’s good for the family car, too.” Niemeyer says that research for the first year of American Ethanol found an amazing 71% acceptance rate for ethanol within NASCAR’s 75 million fans.
American Ethanol is looking forward to another big year with NASCAR!
The volunteer farm women involved in CommonGround state programs across the country are talking and, increasingly, the evidence shows that urban and suburban moms are joining in the conversation. With many states recently launching their programs or preparing to do so this spring, the buzz surrounding this open, honest approach to discussing food is spreading too.
Earlier this month, CommonGround Kansas launched its program with a full court press during the University of Kansas women’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
The Lady Jayhawks may have fallen to Kansas State University’s Lady Wildcats, but the ladies of CommonGround stood tall as they explained how they grow food and the facts about modern agriculture. For a few hours on the cold January evening, volunteers shared in outstanding Kansas City barbeque and in conversations on subjects including the locavore movement, organic fruits and vegetables, sustainability and livestock production to a group of reporters, bloggers, government representatives and community influencers.
While bringing together farm women and the people who speak to urban and suburban moms on a large scale started a conversation, what truly matters is knowing that the dialogue opened that night made a difference. Judging by an article featuring volunteer LaVelle Winsor that ran in the Lawrence World Journal, the stories these women have to tell and understanding they offer about food scored with attendees.
In explaining the program’s goals and offering it as a resource, the article spread the word that there is another source of information for moms concerned about the foods they prepare for their family.
“We aren’t trying to tell anyone how to eat,” Winsor was quoted as saying in the article. “But we would like them to know what actually happens on our farm.”
Want to learn more? “Like” the CommonGround Facebook page and look to see if there are upcoming events in your area.
A syndicated kid’s show that explores the outdoors will feature the life of a corn kernel in an episode airing this week.
An episode of the Into the Outdoors series titled, “Big Things from Small Stuff” will be shown this weekend, January 21-22, on local channels in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
Wisconsin Farmers Mark Schroeder and Bill Hoffman and Cambria-based Didion Milling are featured as the episode follows the life of a corn kernel from planting to harvest. Production of corn kernels into products is displayed in the balance of the episode, which features Didion Milling’s innovative fractionation process at its dry corn mill and the company’s line of HarvestGold Family of Corn Products. The episode also features Didion Ethanol and their co-product dried distillers grains.
USDA’s final crop summary for 2011 released last week surprised many by showing an increase the average corn yield by a half bushel per acre and slightly more harvested acres to come up with a final total of 12.4 billion bushels, up a little bit from the November forecast and not too much lower than the 2010 crop.
“Despite lost acres and a 2011 yield that’s 5.6 bushels below the 2010 average, the corn crop itself is only one percentage point below last year’s number,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer of Illinois. In comparison, final soybean production for 2011 was down 8% from 2010, sorghum and cotton were both down 13%, and rice was down 24%.
The slightly higher corn production means increased U.S. feed grain supplies for 2011/12 slightly over the December estimate, according to the World Agricultural Supply Demand Report. Worldwide, coarse grain supplies for 2011/12 remained almost unchanged this month as higher corn production in the United States, Ukraine, EU-27, and Russia is mostly offset by lower expected corn production in Argentina and the lower sorghum production estimate for the United States.
On the use side of the equation, exports were increased by 50 million bushels reflecting the strong pace of sales to date and reduced prospects for Argentina. Ending stocks are projected 2 million bushels lower at 846 million bushels.
What this all meant for corn futures at the end of last week was a big drop, but most analysts expect the market to rebound quickly as demand remains strong.
These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also extremely dangerous. We just recently came across this Penn and Teller video about how willing people are to sign a petition to ban water when it is called by its chemically proper but unfamiliar name, “dihydrogen monoxide.” This illustration of ignorance and radicalism is not new. Wikipedia traces it back to some University of California students in 1990. Penn and Teller updated the hoax in 2006 and it would be funnier if it wasn’t such a sad commentary on how gullible some people can be and how it could have disastrous consequences.
Closing offices with no employees, consolidating cell phone plans and allowing positions to be eliminated as employees retire are some of the budget cutting plans announced for USDA this week by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during an address to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
“Since 2010, Congress has reduced our discretionary operating budget by more than $3 billion – a roughly 12% cut,” said Vilsack. “We understood this day of reduced budgets was coming and we have been proactive.”
Part of the plan includes closing 259 domestic offices, facilities and labs across the country, as well as seven foreign offices and consolidating over 130 county Farm Service Agency offices in 32 states. “Of the 131 offices on the list, 35 currently have no employees,” Vilsack said. “Our choice was either to maintain these offices or reduce our effort at improved technology to better serve producers and furlough workers, disrupting service to many, many people. We’ve invested millions of dollars and thousands of hours in an effort to get technology that should allow us to better serve producers with reduced staff.”
Overall, it should save about $150 million a year, which is really just a fraction of USDA’s $145 billion per year budget, but in an atmosphere of increasing spending all the time, it is at least a start.
So far, there seems to be surprisingly little grumbling out in the countryside about the office closings, although the national media has been trying hard to find people willing to complain about it. Of course there will be some people who are inconvenienced initially by the changes, but ideally using technology (internet, cell phones, etc.) will result in way better, more flexible and more efficient service in the long run.
You can see this piece of aerial artwork at Gate E-16 in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It is one of a number of pieces that became a part of the international Concourse E at the airport when it was built in 1996 to make way for the Centennial Olympic Games.
In response, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) decided to appeal to a new court in the 9th Circuit in hopes of a different outcome.
When President Obama mentioned clean energy, however, I started paying attention to him, in spite of the 2-year-old. “We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough,” the president said. “It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising.”
It’s a long list that requires a high-price accountant to understand – not a problem for the oil industry! Percentage depletion allowance, marginal oil well incentives, enhanced oil recovery credits, intangible drilling costs expensing, deduction for tertiary injectants, exception from passive loss limitations for oil and gas, etc. According to a DTN analysis, the total comes to about $17.9 billion a year.
That No. 3 Chevrolet is the same one that carried Dale Earnhardt Jr. to four NASCAR Nationwide series championships and it will feature a new 
A syndicated kid’s show that explores the outdoors will feature the life of a corn kernel in an episode airing this week.
Wisconsin Farmers Mark Schroeder and Bill Hoffman and Cambria-based 
“Despite lost acres and a 2011 yield that’s 5.6 bushels below the 2010 average, the corn crop itself is only one percentage point below last year’s number,” said National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer of Illinois. In comparison, final soybean production for 2011 was down 8% from 2010, sorghum and cotton were both down 13%, and rice was down 24%.
These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.
Calling the overall plan a 