Tony’s Tractors

Farm Foundation is holding a forum at the National Press Club at this very moment to release a new study offering a comprehensive, objective assessment of the forces driving food prices.

Farm Foundation president Neil Conklin says what the study shows is that today’s food price levels are the result of complex interactions among multiple factors. “However, one simple fact stands out - economic growth and rising human aspirations are putting greater pressure on the global resource base,” Conklin says. “The difficult challenge for public and private leaders is to identify policy choices that help the world deal with the very real problems created by today’s rising food prices without jeopardizing aspirations for the future.”

The study was written by three Purdue University economists. Lead author Wally Tyner says they basically identified three broad sets of forces driving food price increases - global changes in production and consumption of key commodities, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, and growth in the production of biofuels.

“We made no attempt to calculate what percentage of price changes are attributable to the many disparate causes and, in fact, think it is impossible to do so,” says Tyner. “But examining the interplay of the forces driving food prices gives a clearer picture of what has been happening.”

Read the full report here. There are some very interesting findings here and worth a read. Farm Foundation hopes this will add some reason to the food versus fuel debate which is running high on emotion and low on facts.

We did the interviews with Conklin and Tyner that are posted on the Foundation website. They are also posted below for your listening pleasure.

Conklin interview (runs 4:30)
Download audio file (conklin-interview-64.mp3)

Tyner interview (runs 9:00)
Download audio file (tyner-interview-64.mp3)

If we were a radio station, this would make a great promo spot.

I had the honor of being introduced by Michael Peterson at a private concert held this past weekend at the Lake Ozark home of Sara (Agri-Pulse) Wyant and her husband Allan Johnson with USDA. He said some very nice things about me and Chuck and AgWired and I fortunately had a recorder running at the time.

He called AgWired “the largest and most influential agriculture blog site in the world!” Wow! I like that. “They’re doing a lot around the country to help share the ‘no-spin’ truth about agriculture,” Michael said.

Listen to Michael’s AgWired promo here:
Download audio file (michael-commercial.mp3)

Thanks, Michael!

Farm Foundation Michael Peterson Concert

Popularity: 73% [?]

Country music singer Michael Peterson made some young fans happy at a private party at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks Friday night, singing autographs on copies of his “Down on the Farm” CD supplied to guests courtesy of New Holland. But he also got an autographed memento of his own from the event.

The party was a benefit for Farm Foundation, so immediate past chairman (and party host) Sara Wyant of Agri-Pulse Communications, and Farm Foundation communications director Mary Thompson presented Michael with a book commemorating the foundation’s 75 year history that was signed by some of the organization’s representatives.

Sara presented the book to Michael in gratitude for his performance and in recognition of his tremendous contributions to rural America.

The Farm Foundation focuses on economic and policy issues impacting agriculture, the food system and the people of rural America. The organization works as a catalyst, using conferences, workshops and other activities to bring stakeholders of all types together to identify and understand forces that will shape the future for our industry.

To find out more - or to make a contribution (which they would greatly appreciate) - go to farmfoundation.org.

Farm Foundation Michael Peterson Concert

Popularity: 73% [?]

While Chuck was busy chasing spotted horses in Mississippi this weekend, I got to go to a really GREAT party at beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, featuring our good friend Michael Peterson.

Our gracious hosts were Sara Wyant and Allan Johnson, who bought a private concert with Michael at the NAFB Foundation auction last November, courtesy of New Holland and the still-not-retired Gene Hemphill.

It was just a wonderful event, with about 100 of Sara and Al’s friends and neighbors, including lots of familiar faces in the agribusiness world. The event was also a fundraiser for the Farm Foundation, for which Sara has been serving as chairman.

To see more photos from the event, check out this Flickr Photo Album:

Farm Foundation Michael Peterson Concert

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Here’s my wrap up post from the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. I learned a lot from the presentations here and hope the interviews have helped you too.

I spoke with board member, Cornelius Gallagher, who helped summarize the event. He says the conference brought together world class leaders who were able to listen to some fantastic presentations. I’ve posted interviews with almost all of them so please scroll back through them.

Corny, as he likes to be called, says that the conference accomplished what it was supposed to which is bringing leaders together to foster knowledge and provide attendees with a better understanding in a broad sense of the bio economy.

The next conference in the series will be held October 15-16 in St. Louis.

You can listen to my interview with Corny here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-gallagher.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having to look at different types of contracts and financing.

She said that ethanol companies are going to need a consistent and reliable source of product and that farming by nature is very variable. So farmers will be taking big risks and that’s why contracting will be necessary. She also calls for a lot more research, something we heard earlier in the program from other speakers.

You can listen to my interview with Peggy here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-caswell.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

We heard from Chevron here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference since according to Paul Bryan, the company has made a major commitment to biofuels. He says they created a biofuels business unit about 2 years ago. Their focus is on 2nd generation biofuels that use non-food crops.

His talk focused on the integration in the biopetroleum business. He describes that as using bio-derived fuels that work with the existing petroleum infrastructure. One of the projects they’re involved with uses micro algae and he’s saying that it will be about 5 to 15 years before it’s in full volume production.

You can listen to my interview with Paul here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-bryan.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Popularity: 13% [?]

The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture.

In fact, he says the New York investment community is not interested in biofuels right now. He says they’re tapped out and that ethanol and biodiesel are not of interest to them at all. So with that being said, what’s next? He says there needs to be a combination of making more money from existing plants by co-locating other facilities or finding other sources of income from the same plant. He also thinks there needs to be more and bigger business structures.

He says this means we’re returning to more traditional models of rural development that take a longer term view. He recommends growing local agriculturally skilled management teams with people who understand farm risk.

You can listen to my interview with Chris here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-groobey.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

We had two Under Secretaries talk to us here today. It was my first time to meet our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.

He also talked about how impressed he was at last week’s Bio Energy Awareness Days in Washington, DC where 35 different universities made presentations.

You can listen to my interview with Gale here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-buchanan.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Popularity: 26% [?]

When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks we should be concerned because most of the corn will be moved by truck and that’s going to impact rural roads. He also sees an increase in rail transportation but not significantly.

He’s worked on a project with the state department of transportation in Indiana to study traffic flow changes and suggests that more of this type of research needs to be done. He says that a 100 million gallon ethanol plant will have up to 110 trucks in per day.

You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Download audio file (ff-bio-08-dooley.mp3)

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album