02/06/08 Ethanol; small acreage conference

Ethanol production in Idaho will begin later this month, thanks to a British company's lease of the former Simplot plant in Caldwell. ED&F Man Biofuels will use potato waste from Simplot processing plants in Caldwell and Nampa, plus potato waste from other Idaho and Oregon facilities to produce ethanol. ED&F Man wants to use corn grown by local farmers as the eventually feedstock for the plant. That announcement is the second ethanol announcement in a week. A California company Pacific Ethanol said it will have a 50 million gallon ethanol plant up and running about a year from now in Burley, the same place where Renova Energy is building a 20 million gallon plant on another former Simplot location. The 2007 Small Acreage Conference will be held Saturday February 24th at Albertson College of Idaho, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and concluding at 5:00 p.m. Small-scale farmers, small-acreage landowners and small-scale livestock producers who want to improve their production and marketing, skills are invited to "Systems Approach to Disease Management". For more information, call the Ada County Extension Office at 377-2107 in Boise Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott