The final rulemaking for the 2016 renewable fuel standard (RFS) won't result in much more demand for corn, according to Darrell Good's weekly outlook, "Ethanol Production and Corn Consumption Prospects for 2016," in the FarmDocDaily.
USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service recently released its December Grain Crushings and Coproducts Production report, noting total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 495.8 million bushels in October.
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced mills in the south-central region of the country processed 25.61 million tons of sugarcane during the first half of November, up 10.71 percent from the same period of last year.
Syngenta recently announced that it has signed an agreement with Midwest Renewable Energy LLC to begin using Enogen corn enzyme technology at its Sutherland, Nebraska, ethanol production facility beginning with the 2016 planting season.
Argonne National Laboratory recently released a new version of the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office.
When corn prices increase farmers reap higher yields by making changes. According to a recent study, about one-third of the yield increase derives from more intensive management practices and two-thirds from cropping additional acreage.
With 96 percent of this year's U.S. corn crop harvested as of Nov. 15 according to the USDA's weekly Crop Progress report, U.S. farmers are now turning toward the market, looking for pockets of demand to sell their bountiful crop.
On Nov. 24, the Renewable Fuels Association hosted a press call featuring several experts in the field of biofuel life cycle greenhouse gas analysis and agricultural land use. The speakers addressed the flawed arguments made by ethanol opponents.
Harvest has wrapped up and yield reports have been better than expected. In the USDA's October supply and demand report, the government increased yields to 168 bushels per acre, up from the first new crop yield report in May.
Developers of a proposed barley-to-ethanol plant for Great Falls, Montana, received notice from the U.S. EPA that its pathway has been approved both as a renewable fuel and as a advanced biofuel, as long as it meets specified energy and yield levels.
The real cash cost of producing a bushel of corn and other crops is lower now than during the late 1970s, according to analysis by Ohio State University economist Carl Zulauf in a recent FarmDoc Daily post.
Pacific Ag recently completed its largest harvest of wheat straw on record. Working closely with more than 200 growers across seven states, the company harvested more than 100,000 acres of wheat straw for use in end-markets.
Researchers at the University of New Haven and Yale University have discovered a high-quality catalytic process for converting biomass model compounds, which can be used to convert biomass into value-added chemicals, such as biofuels.
The corn crush for fuel ethanol, at 427.5 million bushels in September was down 4 percent from August and 5 percent from July, according to a Nov. 2 report. Corn consumed for dry mill fuel production was 89.8 percent and wet mill, 10.2 percent.
Genera Energy and PrecisionHawkhave partnered to develop new analysis algorithms. They will be specific to improving the efficiency and quality of sustainable biomass crop production and distribution.
Harvest has wrapped up and yield reports have been better than expected. Aside from the Eastern Corn Belt, most areas of the Corn Belt are projected to outperform last year's yield numbers.
A new survey shows that, once informed about the RFS, 79 percent of Republican and 90 percent of Democrat caucus-goers from Iowa think the RFS is good for the nation. America's Renewable Future and DuPont jointly released the results Oct. 21.
Have you met Colonel Korn? How about Andy and Sandy? The Nebraska Ethanol Board is happy to make the introductions.
Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association responded to a report that came out of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Oct. 15, which called for reforming the RFS. The report was commissioned by a group with ties to Big Oil.
Total U.S. corn production will be lower than estimated last month, but the average yield of their crop is expected to be slightly higher, according to the agency's October World Agricultural Supply and Demand estimate.
Syngenta announced that, to date, it has reached agreements with 16 ethanol plants to use Enogen grain. Together, the plants have a combined production capacity of more than 1 billion gallons.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $13.5 million, multi-institutional research effort to improve sorghum as a sustainable source for biofuel production.
The Senate Banking Committee has defeated an amendment that would have eliminate corn-ethanol blending targets under the RFS. The amendment introduced by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., was defeated Oct. 1 by a vote of 7-15.
The USDA has been more optimistic with yield potential than most of the trade. With harvest getting started in Midwest areas less affected by the heavy rains yield outlooks look more promising and the USDA may be justified in the projections.
Aemetis Inc., an advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company, announced the harvesting of 12- to 15- foot tall biomass sorghum grown in Central California. The company has a multi-year strategy to transition from grain to biomass feedstocks.
The California Air Resources Board has re-adopted a Low Carbon Fuel Standard requiring a 10 percent reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by 2020.
Algenol will partner with South China's Fujian Zhongyuan New Energy Co. Ltd. to develop projects throughout Southern China, utilizing carbon emissions to create renewable fuels. The goal is to provide solutions for China's three biggest problems.
Just as corn ethanol has paved the way for ethanol from corn fiber and corn residue, so too will those feedstocks pave the way for energy crops down the road. The editor's note, written by Tom Bryan, appears in the October issue of EPM.
MBI has received an innovative biomass pretreatment patent for its AFEX technology, which unlocks sugar in biomass and converts it into material that can be made into a source of cattle feed or biofuel or chemical feedstock.
Canadian farmers might one day grow sugar corn, or sweet corn, for a potentially huge alternative fuels market through a new project involving University of Guelph researchers. Sugar from sweet corn stalks is similar to Brazilian sugar cane.
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