[TheForge] OT biodiesel

[Walter Mullett]

Bob,

I visited the site you've listed and this guy's numbers just didn't jive
with what I know.  I've got 40A and I lease part of it to a farmer for corn
and beans and it sure doesn't come close to what this guy says.

On the site you reference, it says:  "An acre of U.S. corn ....requires
about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, according to
Pimentel's analysis."

Where does he get that number???? 140 gal / acre .... that gets your
attention but it's way off.  I run over my 10A hay fields more time than it
takes to raise corn and if I needed 140 gal/A to do that, my 5 gal cans of
gas would explode from over use!  My neighbor farms close to 1,000 acres.
He would need a pipeline to his farm.

In Central Illinois, 2001 corn yields were gross income of about $310/A and
for the combined costs of machinery repair, fuel, and hire costs the number
was $32/A.  Granted, that number is 2001 but have fuel costs gone up 10X
since then?  I don't think so!

I didn't read any further in the report.  Maybe the guy has some good points
but inflating numbers to meet his ideas just makes me mad.

Walt

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of schade at acegroup.cc
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 10:14 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] OT biodiesel

I wouldn't be surprised that the SD Corn Growers Association would be pro
ethanol. But some others are less enthusiastic about it (and more
objective).

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug01/corn-basedethanol.hrs.html

The way I see it they are already planting corn everywhere they can. 
Raising the price of corn will have farmers plowing erodable hillsides with
tractors burning oil to plant more corn using petroleum based fertilizers.
Goodbye topsoil. Conservation (or taking over oil rich
countries) is the only answer to the oil problem and no one wants to talk
about that.

Bob
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On May 25, 2005, at 8:45 PM, Walter Mullett wrote:

> Like almost all new ideas, first editions are expensive and 
> inefficient.
> That is where government should step in and has somewhat.  I think 
> looking
> for alternative fuels is a must and biodiesel and ethanol are good 
> ideas
> that hold promise.
>
> You say that these plants do not make profits.  This site
>  http://www.sdcorn.org/sdcorn/ethanol/default.asp
> says they are returning 33% return on investment.  I would love 33%.

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