USDA will accept applications for the next round of Biomass Crop Assistance Program Project Areas until April 23, 2012. USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Bruce Nelson points out that – BCAP provides incentives to farmers and forest landowners to grow non-food crops to be processed into biofuels.  These are crops that can grow where other crops cannot.

This program provides farmers with new opportunities to diversify into more markets. But, because most energy crops are perennial and take time to mature before harvest, BCAP is designed so that sufficient quantities of feedstock will be available to meet future demand.

The BCAP Project Areas where these crops are grown will be selected from proposals producers or biomass facilities submit to FSA. Information about submitting a proposal can be found on thewww.grants.gov website.

Courtesy: NAFB News

Under pressure from animal rights activists and sensing a shift in consumer sentiment, several major pork producers have agreed to phase out gestation crates and switch to more open pens. Some of that change will come as U.S. pork producers build new barns and retrofit old ones to give hogs more space.  Many of those same producers point out that consumers opposed to keeping pregnant sows in tight cages can expect to pay for their clearer consciences with higher food prices.

Dennis Treacy, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods, says major pork buyer McDonald’s Corporation recently announced its suppliers will have to stop using gestation pins as well. He says – that announcement was a tipping point in the debate about gestation stalls versus pens. Smithfield had converted 30 percent of its company-owned farms by the end of December and is on track to meet its goal of switching all of them by 2017.

Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council says – putting open pens into existing barns cuts production because the buildings can’t hold as many sows. But building bigger barns to accommodate group pens is expensive, and smaller producers who can’t afford to retrofit existing barns could be forced out of business, further reducing supplies. On top of that add veterinary costs that can go up because sows tend to fight and sometimes injure each other.

Courtesy: NAFB News

Later this month, when USDA releases its first crop estimates based on producer plans, the commodity markets will take notice.  In fact, the department reports the impact of data on corn prices has magnified since 2006, with monthly and annual production data releases, and particularly with quarterly grain stocks reports, now resulting in market price changes of ten or more cents in a majority of cases.

Paul Bertels, vice president of production and utilization for the National Corn Growers Association, says – when examined, the data clearly demonstrates a marked increase in commodities market volatility. While many factors certainly impact cash markets on a given day, Bertels says, – the correlation is too strong to ignore

According to USDA, from 1994 through 2006, the market price shifted by ten or more cents on only 18 percent of the days following report release.  From 2007 to present, the impact of data release has become significantly more dramatic with a ten or more cent price shift in 64 percent of these cases. Also, the quarterly grains stocks report has its effect on prices.  Between 1994 and 2006, the market reacted by shifting up or down in a nearly equal number of instances.  Since 2007, the impact was almost two times as likely to be negative.

Courtesy: NAFB News

The U.S. Energy Information Agency is estimating the average retail cost of gasoline to be $3.79 per gallon in 2012 and $3.72 per gallon in 2013. Some areas of the country can see gas priced at well over 4-dollars per gallon into the foreseeable future. The National Corn Growers Association reports there is one factor that, when removed, can drive the cost of gas in your tank significantly higher – and that is domestic, renewable ethanol.

NCGA President Garry Niemeyer, a corn grower in Illinois, says – this is not the time to be reducing our production and use of ethanol, but increasing it, by moving forward quickly with the E15 blend and by building more flex-fuel cars and trucks – and the infrastructure to support them.

Meanwhile, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, asked lawmakers this week to think of consumers paying more for gasoline as Congress decides how much money to give his agency. According to Gensler, if his agency’s funding were cut, – it would struggle to employ new market surveillance tools to target inappropriate activity. The CFTC is in charge of ridding commodity markets of fraud and manipulation.

Courtesy: NAFB News

Speaking at Ohio State University Thursday, President Obama announced that up to 35-million dollars over three years will be provided to support research and development in advanced biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. The projects funded through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative will help cut America’s oil imports, develop clean alternative energy technologies, and protect American families and businesses from the ups and downs of the global oil market.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says – this funding represents the kind of innovation we need to build American-made, homegrown biofuels and biobased products that will help to break our dependence on foreign oil and move our nation toward a clean energy economy. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says – investing in next-generation biofuels helps boost the competitiveness of the U.S. biofuels industry, supports economic development in rural communities, and creates skilled jobs for American workers.

The dollars will support feedstock development, biofuels and biobased products development, and biofuels development analysis.

Courtesy: NAFB News