Renewable Energy Recieves Federal Support

With mixed feelings, the environmental community celebrates the signing of the Energy bill by President Bush. This new legislation addresses the long neglected fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, and provides "$6.5 billion in energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) funding the bill appropriates for the next decade, including $1 billion for renewable energy programs and $2 billion for carbon capture and sequestration RD&D, both spread over the next 5 years."

There is some concern as to what effect the doubling of corn based ethanol production as mandated in this legislation will have on the environment and agricultural markets. The new energy bill does however provide significant support for second generation bio-fuels. Another bone stuck in the craw of renewable energy advocates was the failure to reduce tax breaks for oil and gas companies while ending tax breaks that support for solar and wind energy projects. When all is said and done, it seems this new energy bill is equal parts status-quo and progress.

Next Generation Bio Fuels

The Department of Energy has announced the award of $7.7 million for research on new bio energy technologies. This influx of research capitol will continue the push to move beyond corn derived ethanol. The research funded here will examine the thermochemical conversion process of turning grasses, stover, the non-edible portion of crops and other materials into biofuel. These projects will be looking at processes to remove contaminants from the synthetic gas produced from biomass feedstock as well as reducing the amount of pollutants produced in these processes. There will also be research conducted on converting this syngas to a liquid fuel for possible use as a transportation fuel.

Biofuels, Excess Nitrogen Fertilization,ect.

In the recent release "Biofuels: An Important Part of a Low-Carbon Diet" from the Union of Concerned Scientists, they discuss the role of biofuels along with increases in energy efficiency in reducing the carbon impact of personal transportation. In the article the UCS analysis recognizes the importance of reducing fuel consumption through increased efficiencyas well as miles driven. Acheiving this will require a significant adjustment to the way we live, and work. This demonstrates the degree to which energy policy, urban develoopment and environment are interconnected. For decades we have subsidized the sprawling development that has become the signature of most American urban areas. As a result we have become dependant on inexpensive and abundant transportation fuels.

Without significantly increased effeciancy and reduced miles driven there is little hope that biofuels can significantly impact our need for imported petrolieum fuels. They cite corn derived ethanol as being a elementary first step toward reducing the carbon intensity of the transportation sector.

And in walks Productive Conservation on Working Lands... By focusing on developing the supply of feed stocks for the bio-energy sector PCWL will aid in reducing imported and fossil fuel derived energy needs. This will be true weather the preferred technology is biomass gassification, cellulose ethanol, or co-burning biomass in conventional power plants.

In a study published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, a long term (50 years) study documents excessive N fertilizers deplete soil organic carbon. The Myth of Nitrogen Fertilization for Soil Carbon Sequestration reports the findings of a study that concludes: "The analysis came from a century of soil organic carbon data from the university’s Morrow Plots, the world's oldest experimental site under continuous corn. After 40 to 50 years of synthetic fertilization that exceeded grain N removal by 60 to 190 percent, a net decline occurred in soil carbon despite increasingly massive residue C incorporation." (excerpt from newfarm.org)

As soil carbon content decreases, that content is released to the atmosphere. By removing untold tons of sequestered CO2 and releasing it to the atmospheric CO2 pool, we are intensifying the accumulation of greenhouse gasses. Another negative effect of this shift of carbon is the reduction of soil fertility. It is well established that soils high in carbon content have increased ability to hold nutrients vital to crop production, and the depletion of carbon content in our soils is a major concern for the future productivity of our farm lands. We need to consider these long term consequences when deciding which agricultural practices we as a nation are going to support.

Carbon Credits, Switch Grass Genetics

I have come across a couple bits of information pertinant to Productive Conservation On Working Lands:

• The University Of Minnesota Extension is holding a workshop on carbon credits fom Minnesota farmers next week. For more information go here .

• In the recent article of Plant Chat distrtibuted by the NRCS, was an interesting article on Switch grass genetics. Michael Casler, a plant geneticist who works at the ARS U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison compared samples of switchgrass taken from virgin prairie reminants across the country to modern improved cultivars. The results were surprising, in that the samples were genetically very similar. According to this research the risk of contaminating the genetic pool of local switchgrass populations with improved varieties may be less than previosly thought.

On the other hand....

In this Chicago Tribune article - Bill would reduce meat inspections, the previously mentioned (see my last post) Minnesota Representative Colin Peterson has added a mesure the the 2007 farm bill that would allow interstate shipment of state inspected meat. While at first glance this seems to be a counterintuitive proposition, if we dig a little deeper we see that this proposal could greatly benefit consumers and small, local and independant farmers and meat processors.

This measure would make market access much easyer for small regional processing facilities serving farmers who market their own meat product from their farms. Also consider the current federal inspection system is over worked and under staffed. Allowing states to assume some of the meat inspection work would allow more facilities to become inspected in turn providing more possibilities for consumers and farmers to process their meat. Federal law already stipulates that state meat inspection regulations must be at least as stringent as federal standards. There are a very limited number of federally inspected processing facilities in this state and the ones that are generally don't deal with individual producers.

This measure could provide genuine rural economic development opportunities across the state of Minnesota as well as the nation. Minnesota State meat inspection program has information further explaining the complex arrray of laws, and the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture has published a document - Marketing Loical Food, targeted to Minnesota farmers involved in direct marketing.

Many kudos to Representative Peterson for at least addressing this long neglected issue in the 2007 farm bill!

With Friends like this.....

From MSNBC, US farm bill unlikely to aid good nutrition:

Collin Peterson, chairman of the House of Representatives agricultural committee, says the farm sector that raises organic produce and grass-fed beef for local consumers needs little federal help. "It is growing, and it has nothing to do with the government, and that is good," he told the FT. "For whatever reason, people are willing to pay two or three times as much for something that says 'organic' or 'local'. Far be it from me to understand what that's about, but that's reality. And if people are dumb enough to pay that much then hallelujah."”

Wow.
If you take Minnesota Representative Peterson's opinion, I guess 20% market share (and growing) the organic food sector has developed for it's self is compromised primarily of ignorant fools. With friends like this in government the organic industry should be grateful for the neglect offered to the organic ag industry from the federal government.

Is Representative Peterson truly this hostile toward the rural economic development opportunities offered by local and organic food production? Is it such a bad thing for farmers to retain some of the profits from their labor by adding value to their crops and livestock? By selling direct to consumers within their local communities, Minnesota farmers not only provide fresh and healthy food but circulate more money within their communities, contributing to strong vibrant communities. These farmers are not just sitting back and complaining about the decline of rural Minnesota, but they are out there in the fields and markets doing something to improve the communities where they live and work.

To refer to the customers of these farmers as dumb is insulting to farmers and consumers across the state of Minnesota as well as nation. These customers understand the “you get what you pay for” concept. They understand that if you want food harvested at its peak of ripeness and flavor, it likely won’t come from South America. These dumb customers understand they can be their own food inspectors by developing personal relationships and often friendships with the people that raise their food. They know how the animals that provide their meat were raised and they know what is in their food. Hopefully some of Representative Peterson’s constituents he refers to as dumb can explain some of these concepts to him.

Oil and Agriculture

The Oil Drum posted a very relevant article (The Connection Between Food Supply and Energy: What Is the Role of Oil Price?) examining the relationship between American agriculture and it's reliance on petroleum. As everyone in the agriculture community is well aware, modern agriculture is dependant on plentiful petroleum in order to produce the outstanding yields that have become standard. In our region, corn yields of 100 bushels per acre would be considered a disastrous harvest. Field averages approaching and exceeding 200 bushels per acre have become the norm in many areas of the Midwest. According to the authors, sustaining these yields will be the challenge facing the next generation of American Farmers. Under post-peak oil, future generations of farmers will have to face increasingly scarce and costly energy inputs to their farms. How will future generations of farmers adapt under these proposed conditions. I don't think any one will argue American agriculture will face significant changes in the coming decades, but what will the rural Minnesota Landscape look like in 20 or 40 years?

What will Minnesota agriculture look like 20 years from now? Today's conventional farmers may see a landscape covered in quadruple-stacked genetically modified super crops, and the organic and sustainable agriculture proponents may daydream about fields looking like a patch-work of diverse crops in 5 year crop rotations as well as pastures grazed by cows and sheep. What will the land really look like in 20 years?

My money says it will be somewhere between these two extremes.

Local Ownership of Renewable Energy Production

I came across the report Energizing Rural America Local Ownership of Renewable Energy
Production Is the Key this morning. In it the author David Morris addresses the issue of local ownership of renewable energy, specifically ethanol and wind power. Morris makes the case Congress not only needs to support renewable energy development, but also must structure support in order to encourage local and decenteralized ownership of renewable energy development. The report was published in January of 2007, but the issue still remains relivant. While economies of scale are present in any industry, decades under energy cartels should have taught us the value of decenteralized energy production. Having a locally owned energy production sector will have much greater impact on rural economies than any JOBZ program.

First PCWL projects finished

I have recieved word the first four PCWL crop establichment projects have been completed. I expect they will be presented for payment at the November Three Rivers RC&D Council meeting. Two of the projects are in Maritn County and two are in Polk County. So far we are getting a good geographic disperson of projects between the northern and southern regions of the state. The two Martin County projects are hazelnut plantings, and the Polk County projects are for Canadian and Virginia Wild Rye.

We are still accepting applications for the January 6 deadline for crop establishment proposals. This round will be for crops being established in the spring of 2008. More application information is available here. We still have funding to assist the establishment of 800 acres of productive conservation crops, so be sure to send us a proposal if you have an idea for growing a productive conservation crop on your land.

Cellulosic ethanol coming to Emmetsburg Iowa?? Poet, DOE sign cellulosic ethanol plant agreement .

On the AP wire today was this story about plans to expand ethanol production in China and India, along with speculation on what the effects on water supplies will be. Water use seems to be one of the biggest environmental issues concerning the production of ethanol. This debate is not limited to China and India, the domestic ethanol industry facing problems in some areas due to lack of water resources.

An International trade conference on biofuels and carbon at U of M, will be held at Oct. 22-23.

“Contrary to public perceptions, renewable energy is not the silver bullet that will soon solve our problems,” - Jeroen van der Veer, Royal Dutch Shell CEO.....Oh really?

According to Mr. van der Veer, it seems everyone working in the renewable energy field is just wasting their time, so we should just give up and go work for the coal companies? Nice. I'm quite sure his view is based neither in the majority nor reality. They also said the world is flat and there be dragons where the map ends...

The Three Rivers Blog

We are in the process of developing our web presence here at Three Rivers RC&D, and If you haven't already been by, check out http://www.threeriversrcd.org/ for more information on what we do here in Southern Minnesota.

Currently we are up to our ears in the workings of "Productive Conservation on Working Lands" (PCWL) which is a NRCS grant geared toward encouraging productive and profitable conservation options on agricultural land in Minnesota. This program is focused on, but not limited to developing the feedstock for the rapidly developing bio-energy industry in Minnesota. We currently have projects enrolled in PCWL that are developing the seed bank of native grasses, establishing native grasses to be harvested and burned as biomass pellets for heat, as well as research plots of hybrid poplar and willow.

This developing bio-energy industry has the potential for an enormous impact on the economic, social, and natural environments of rural Minnesota, as well as the nation. We see this opportunity as a critical link between natural resource conservation, rural economic development, and community building.

The Three Rivers Council is also very interested in the promotion of local foods and the nutritional, economic and community benefits that go along with having a healthy local food community. We currently are workling on developing a local foods promotion program, and are looking at the possibility of hosting a series of speakers involved in the national local food movement. If you have any suggestions or would like to be involved, please contact us.