Category: Grower News
Monsanto lobbying costs top $1.7M for Q2
Share In Washington, D.C., the world’s largest seed company spent $1.71 million in the second quarter of 2011 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure report filed with the House clerk’s office by Monsanto Co. The Company lobbied Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over regulations that would affect the distribution of [...]
China, ethanol use keeps corn stocks at 15-year lows
Share In Washington, the USDA says corn stocks will stay at 15 year lows for longer than expected with ethanol and Chinese imports as the main users of the anticipated supply. The most recent usage estimates were 3% higher than expected by traders, offsetting some of the expected increase in supply. Ethanol will become the [...]
Is corn a fertilizer hog? Times are changing, says RFA
Share In Washington, RFA Vice President Geoff Cooper took issue with the contention that US corn yields are rising because of, simply, increased fertilizer use. ”Data from USDA show that 2010 application rates of the three common macronutrient fertilizers (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate) were the same–or below—the application rates seen in the early 1980s. Thus, nitrogen [...]
Ethanol prices jump as corn rises
Share In Illinois, ethanol prices on the Chicago Board of Trade are rallying on high corn prices thanks to a hot summer that keeps shrinking expectations for the corn crop. Crude oil prices have also advanced, helping to push ethanol prices to three-week highs, up 22% this year. The crush margin is running at between [...]
Corn yields down with high heat, low rain: USDA
Share In Washington, the USDA released the latest World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates Report. The report outlined signnificant drops in projected corn production, owning to heat and rain conditions in the Corn Belt. “U.S. feed grain supplies for 2011/12 are projected lower this month,” the report comments, “with sharp drops in forecast corn and [...]
Trojan Corn, or 20 billion reasons to Think Outside the Tank
Share A game-changing technology from Syngenta may drop billions to the biofuels industry’s bottom line Earlier this year, Syngenta received the OK from the USDA to commercialize its alpha-amylase corn. The news generated a smattering of interest amongst the broader biofuels community, which has been more engaged in thinking about tax credits, the future of [...]
Heron Lake taps Gavilon for corn supply, ethanol and DDGS marketing
Share In Nebraska, Gavilon has signed with Heron Lake BioEnergy to be their exclusive corn supplier, and ethanol and DDGS marketer. Heron Lake is a dry mill ethanol producer in Minnesota, procuring approximately 18 million bushels of corn per year and produces approximately 50 MGy, and 160,000 tons of DDGS.
