The Farm Foundation just concluded a conference in their series titled, “Transition To A Bio Economy.” This one was on risk, infrastructure and industry evolution and all the presentations were on biofuels. I conducted a series of interviews with the presenters which you can find with this link.
One of them has done some interesting research on the link between the volatility of ethanol production and corn prices. He is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk dealt with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel. Michael says that gas price volatility can be avoided with fuel diversification by blending renewable fuels with fossil fuels.
Another part of his research is on food and fuel and to answer the question of “Is there a direct link between the volatility of ethanol production and the volatility of corn prices. His research has found that there is a link but not a persistent or long lasting one. In fact, in the long run he says there is no direct link.
The bottom line he says is that we just need to produce more food. After talking to Iowa corn growers last weekend, I can say that American farmers are certainly doing their best.
The word “enzymes” was a key one at the CUTC this year and in fact, one whole session was devoted to it titled, “New developments and efficiencies in the world of enzymes.”
One of the speakers on that program was Elizabeth Hood, Arkansas State University. I spoke to her about her presentation. She’s a plant biotechnologist with a small start up company. They produce enzymes for biomass conversion. Her talk was about the work their doing that uses the corn kernel as the bio-factory for making enzymes. She’s hoping that this will be a co-product for ethanol production.
Elizabeth says it will be about 12 to 16 months until they have commercial products and that they’ve been working on the project for about 7 years.
You can listen to my interview with Elizabeth here:
The Renewable Fuels Association last week released the results of an economic analysis conducted by John Urbanchuk of LECG, LLC, a global expert services consulting firm. The report focused on the impact of the U.S. ethanol industry in 2007.
The analysis determined that the “increase in economic activity resulting from ongoing production and construction of new capacity supported the creation of 238,541 jobs in all sectors of the economy during 2007. These include more than 46,000 jobs in America’s manufacturing sector — American jobs making ethanol from grain produced by American farmers.” The goods and services required to produce the estimated 6.5 billion gallons in 2007 added $47.6 billion to the Gross Domestic Product and raised household incomes by $12.3 billion.
The announcement last week that scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have completed a working draft of the corn genome holds tremendous potential to meet society’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
The accomplishment, which was announced at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference, is the result of a $30 million project initiated in 2005 and funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University’s Genome Sequencing Center, says this is the first comprehensive glimpse at the blueprint for the corn plant. “Scientists now will be able to accurately and efficiently probe the corn genome to find ways to improve breeding and subsequently increase crop yields and resistance to drought and disease,” he said.
The draft covers about 95 percent of the corn genome, and scientists will spend the remaining year of the grant refining and finalizing the sequence. “Although it’s still missing a few bits, the draft genome sequence is empowering,” Wilson explains. “Virtually all the information is there, and while we may make some small modifications to the genetic sequence, we don’t expect major changes.”
According to plant biologist Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., chair of Washington University’s Department of Biology, “The genome will help unravel the basic biology of corn. That information can be used to look for genes that make corn more nutritious or more efficient for ethanol production, for example.”
The team working on the endeavor included scientists from Iowa State University, among them corn geneticist Dr. Patrick Schnable who has been working on corn genetics exclusively for well over 20 years. Brownfield Network’s Peter Shinn did an interview with Dr. Schnable you can read and listen to here.
This is an exciting development that opens up a whole new world of possibilities for feeding and fueling the world.
With all the cane that is being raised about corn ethanol, here is a potential solution that hopefully won’t fall on deaf ears.
It could be called “earless corn” or “Midwestern sugarcane” - but it is really tropical maize, the type of corn typically grown in hot, humid regions. Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered that when it is grown in the Midwest “the long summer days delay flowering, which causes the plant to grow very tall and produce few or no ears.” With no ears, the corn stalk builds up sugar, making it like sugarcane.
According to University of Illinois crop scientist Fred Below, “Midwestern-grown tropical maize easily grows 14 or 15 feet tall compared to the 7-1/2 feet height that is average for conventional hybrid corn. It’s all in these tall stalks.” Below explains. “In our early trials, we are finding that these plants build up to a level of 25 percent or higher of sugar in their stalks.”
The tall stalks of tropical maize are so full of sugar that producers growing it for biofuel production could potentially supply a raw material at least one step closer to being turned into fuel than are ears of corn - no cellulosic technology needed.
That’s one good thing. Another really beneficial characteristic of tropical maize is that it requires much less nitrogen fertilizer than conventional corn, because it has no ears.
Finally, the researchers say it would also be easier for Midwest farmers to grow tropical maize as opposed to some other dedicated energy crop because it could be easily rotated with corn or soybeans, and can be planted, cultivated and harvested with the same equipment U.S. farmers already have.
The Farm Foundation just concluded a conference in their series titled, “Transition To A Bio Economy.” This one was on risk, infrastructure and industry evolution and all the presentations were on biofuels. I conducted a series of interviews with the presenters which you can find with this link.
The word “enzymes” was a key one at the CUTC this year and in fact, one whole session was devoted to it titled, “New developments and efficiencies in the world of enzymes.”
When ethanol comes to town, things change.
The analysis determined that the “increase in economic activity resulting from ongoing production and construction of new capacity supported the creation of 238,541 jobs in all sectors of the economy during 2007. These include more than 46,000 jobs in America’s manufacturing sector — American jobs making ethanol from grain produced by American farmers.” The goods and services required to produce the estimated 6.5 billion gallons in 2007 added $47.6 billion to the Gross Domestic Product and raised household incomes by $12.3 billion.
Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University’s Genome Sequencing Center, says this is the first comprehensive glimpse at the blueprint for the corn plant. “Scientists now will be able to accurately and efficiently probe the corn genome to find ways to improve breeding and subsequently increase crop yields and resistance to drought and disease,” he said. 
It could be called “earless corn” or “Midwestern sugarcane” - but it is really tropical maize, the type of corn typically grown in hot, humid regions.