Crop Report: Corn Prices Keep Rising-(but but but it was to be be cheap/replenish able fuel)

ap ^ | 12/11/06 | By Libby Quaid, Associated Press Writer

[Flavius]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Farmers are getting the best price for corn in more than a decade amid strong demand for ethanol and feed, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.

Average corn prices for the year were forecast at $2.90 to $3.30 a bushel, up 10 cents from last month's estimate, according to the monthly crop report.

he last time prices were as good was 1995, when the average was $3.25 a bushel. This year is the fifth time corn prices have risen above $3 a bushel. Last year's average was $2 a bushel.

The production forecast was unchanged at 10.7 billion bushels of corn, down from last year's 11.1 billion bushels. The nation's ethanol fuel plants are expected to use about 20 percent of the corn crop, and exports should consume roughly the same share.

Analysts also left the forecast unchanged for soybean production, predicting 3.2 billion bushels, up from about 3 billion bushels last year.

The price forecast for soybeans rose to $5.70 to $6.50 a bushel, up from last month's estimate of $5.40 to $6.40 a bushel. Last year's price was $5.66 a bushel. Roughly 35 percent of the crop is expected to be exported to foreign markets.

Export demand has softened, however, for beef and poultry, the department said. Analysts lowered the export forecast for beef amid problems with shipments to South Korea and for chicken amid slower-than-expected sales.

[Concho]

Uh huh, gimmick fuel? That's why Indy switched to it in 2005.

[Fierce Allegiance]

No beef with biodiesel. They make & sell the stuff relatively without subsidy, because it makes sense. Ethanol adds expense and decreases mileage. Good choices, I'd say. NOT!

Funny how all you ethanol guys need the insults. Strange, i tell ya!

[TKDietz]

They're actually getting closer to 2.8 gallons of ethanol per bushel on average, and according to the article American farmers grew 10.7 billion bushels of corn this year, down from 11.1 billion last year. They had a bad year. That's the main reason corn prices are climbing.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Yeah, as a gimmick. Methanol make more sense, that's why they used to use it. I've used it as a race fuel. Once you get over the fact you can't see the fire, it's not so bad.

[RightWhale]

The alternative fuels were never supposed to be cheap. They were supposed to kick in when oil became expensive but that doesn't imply they will suddenly be cheaper than oil is now. It's going to cost more. $5 a gallon? Probably more, but since the natural gasoline would cost that too it won't make the slightest difference. Availability is the question.

[TKDietz]

"No beef with biodiesel. They make & sell the stuff relatively without subsidy, because it makes sense."

That is absolutely false. The blender's credit for biodiesel is a dollar a gallon compared with fifty one cents a gallon for ethanol. Also, most of our biodiesel is produced from soybeans and I believe soybeans are also a subsidized crop. What's worse is that they don't get much more than forty gallons of biodiesel per acre from soybeans, so even if biodiesel has a higher energy content it still takes a lot more acres of soybeans than corn to supply a driver for a year. Biodiesel is a great fuel. We just need a lot more productive feedstock than soybeans before it could even come close to competing with ethanol, let alone petroleum based liquid fuels.

[Flavius]

well,technically if you live near an ocean, and you can utilize ocean waves, some sunlight wind, you could either store energy for free

or use energy to make hydrogen for the car...

but energy can certainly be free

[Fierce Allegiance]

Have a source for your beliefs?

[RightWhale]

Because of my education in engineering economy, I have come to believe there is nothing free. That education was not free, either, although a while ago and cheaper than it would be now.

[TKDietz]

Sure. The first link is the first one that popped up when I did a search for biodiesel and "blenders credit" on Google. You could find plenty of others that will say they same thinh. The blenders credit is one dollar per gallon.

http://dep.state.ct.us/wst/p2/energy/biodiesel_qaqc.pdf

Next I did a Google search for 'biodiesel yield soybeans ' and the first link that popped up says they get 48 gallons of vegitable oil per acre of soybeans. Note that the yield of biodiesel per acre is going to be slightly less than the yield of vegetable oil. The next link is to the Wikapedia entry for biodiesel. They say you can get forty gallons of biodiesel per average from soybeans. I've reports that show the national average as being slightly higher than that but I don't have time to do a lot of research today to find more reliable sources. If you don't like my links though you can do your own search and I'm sure you will find that I am right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html

[Fierce Allegiance]

Well done, and without personal insults, unlike Keith & Concho instantly resort to, for WHATEVER reason. This is how debate is supposed to work.

[Flavius]

well no doubt your an engineer

[Fierce Allegiance]

How do you extract the energy from the sources you mention? Tyrbines for wind are not cheap, and my company does marine construction. We don't install wave generation plants for nothing, I can promise that!

[Fierce Allegiance]

OK, Tyrbine may be a brand name, but I meant to type turbine.

[Free Vulcan]

Absolutely true. Ethanol plants run more efficently and profitably if all the other stuff is removed before making ethanol, and that 'other stuff' has significant uses and value, including but not exclusively food products.

Besides, the future of fuel is butanol, which can be made from any plant matter, not just corn.

[Mr. Lucky]

I've put just shy of 26,000 miles on my truck this year, every single one of them on E-85. The biggest adjustment is getting used to the garage smelling like a veterinarian's office.

[RightWhale]

???

[TKDietz]

"Besides, the future of fuel is butanol, which can be made from any plant matter, not just corn."

Butanol is just another form of alcohol. It has a higher energy content than ethanol and can be distributed through existing pipelines, and it will work in unmodified gasoline vehicles. The problem is that it is significantly more expensive to produce than ethanol. So much so that I wouldn't count on it being "the future of fuel." As for being able to produce it with any plant matter, the same can be said for ethanol. The problem there again is costs. Neither ethanol nor butanol will ever be the "future of fuel" unless costs come down and per acre yields go way up into the thousands of gallons per acre range. No matter what though ethanol will most likely always be significantly cheaper to produce than bio-butanol. Butanol is a more complex fuel requiring more processing to produce. Most butanol on the market today by the way is made from petroleum, and it's a lot more expensive than gasoline.

[Farmer Dean]

With no till farming topsoil loss is minimal to zero.Topsoil is created on most soils at a rate of 1 to 2 tons per acre per year.And yes crop rotation is the way to go and is possible with no till.

[curiosity]

Thanks, Keith. Folks outside of the Midwest need to know that after corn (cattle feed) has the ethanol cooked out, there is still cattle feed left over.

Yeah, and it makes the cows sick and increases the amount of saturated fat in the meat. The corn lobby doesn't just make us waste money on highly inefficient energy source; it also creates incentives for farmers to raise unhealthy beef.