10/16/07 Renewable Energy Conference

Renewable Energy Conference. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. More than 15-hundred people took part in USDA's first Advancing Renewable Energy conference. The conference agenda was packed with high-ranking government officials and industry officials - including U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman who addressed attendees. The National Corn Growers Association is playing a big role in this event - and President Ken McCauley was in St. Louis for the conference. He says the conference is really addressing the nation's total energy needs - and the different sources that can help lead the nation to energy independence. Of course one of those is corn-based ethanol. And while the food versus fuel debate seems to be waging on in the countryside - McCauley says there seems to be an understanding among those at the conference. MCCAULEY: One of the big things I'm hearing is that nobody's questioning how much food and fuel we can deliver. The food and fuel question has been answered. We can produce enough corn and we will. I think you're seeing more confidence that people are starting to believe our message and some of the things we've put together at the National Corn Growers to show not just yields but farmers' ingenuity and profit potential. Opportunities are out there that will make this crop get bigger. And as McCauley notes - that's happening in less-than-favorable conditions. So as the confidence of Americans grows - McCauley says the confidence of the nation's corn growers is growing as well. MCCAULEY: You are seeing crop production going up with fewer acres and actually not very good weather but just imagine what happens when this futures price that we are seeing, even the run up prices for cash corn today, all of a sudden farmers say well I could boost my yield up quite a bit by doing certain things and tuning up your farm actual corn yields go up quite a bit more than your trend line so farmers are actually believing in this renewable system now and taking a second look at saying this might not be over and we for sure don't think it's over, it's the tip of the iceberg. But corn isn't the only player in the ethanol game - and McCauley says competition for research dollars is growing. In the marketplace - on the other hand - McCauley says different ethanol sources can work together to the benefit of the U.S. And he says that includes corn. MCCAULEY: We've always talked about no, there's not good ethanol or bad ethanol; it's all good and we're a part of that system. I think when we get to the level of 15-20 billion gallons of ethanol then we're going to have some new ways to make it from corn too and we'll be part of that system that moves on into the next generation. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.