Corn Stocks To Rise If Ethanol Tax Credit Cut

Stockpiles of U.S. corn would begin to rebuild if Congress allows tax credits for ethanol to expire at the end of the year, a key group of economists at the University of Missouri said March 7. The university’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, or FAPRI, forecast corn stocks at the end of the 2011-12

China’s Top Feed Firm Wants Access To DDGS

China’s largest animal feed producer, New Hope Group, called on the government to stop its antidumping investigation against exports of U.S. DDGS, a byproduct of corn-based ethanol used to substitute corn by feed mills. “The investigation has not consulted the feed industry and only represents the interests of some ethanol producers,” Liu Yonghao, chairman of


Worries Aside, U.S. Has “Foot On The Gas” On Ethanol

The United States “can do it all” – turn more corn into ethanol without running short of food, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Feb. 24, as oil prices soared and the government raised its forecast of food price increases this year. “There is no reason for us to take the foot off the gas,” said

Ethanol Key Factor In Corn Price Spike

Grain and oilseed prices have reached some of their strongest values in years, and a key contributor is demand for corn from U.S. ethanol plants, according to an analyst. Kevin Grier, senior market analyst with the George Morris Centre said the current amount of corn being used by U.S.- based ethanol plants is as high


Cellulosic Ethanol Another Income Stream For Corn Farmers

Cellulosic ethanol production using corn stover as the feedstock is going commercial, but over the short term it won’t make any more grain corn available for human or livestock use, according to Kyle Althoff. It will however, provide additional returns to farmers in the form of stover payments and potential agronomic benefits. “We don’t see

Pickled Stover Works For Cattle Feed

New research has shown that a substantial portion of the grain in cattle feed can be effectively replaced with corn stover – the plant’s stalks, cobs and leaves – when these harvest residues are treated with a common food ingredient known as hydrated lime, or pickling lime. The alternative feeding strategy, which could improve feeders’


U.S. Locked Into Ethanol Growth

The U.S. government has few options to slow down the ethanol boom that has played a big role in drawing down corn supplies to their lowest level in 15 years, a top U.S. Agriculture Department official said Feb. 10. “The fact is the industry has pretty much been built,” USDA chief economist Joe Glauber told

Bovine Bellies Yield Clues For New Biofuels

Researchers looking for better ways to make biofuels turned to experts at breaking down grass – cattle – and found more than a dozen new compounds in their guts that might help make new, cheap sources of energy. They used new genetic sequencing techniques to find microbes that make enzymes that in turn can break


In Brief… – for Jan. 27, 2011

Saudis to raise wheat reserves:Saudi Arabia plans to increase wheat reserves to one year from six months in around three years, the head of the grains authority said Jan. 16. The kingdom would increase grain storage capacity by 550,000 tonnes in four cities within three years to reach that goal, Waleed ElKheriji told reporters. Last

Ethanol And Oil Subsidies: Competing Claims And Self-Justification

Acommon question we hear when we tell people that we are agricultural policy analysts is “Well, whaddya think about ethanol subsidies?” That question becomes critically important as the blenders’ credit, the ethanol import tariff and the small producers’ tax credit face a deadline of December 31, 2010 for renewal by a lame-duck Congress. Todd Neeley,