03/14/07 Supply not demand biofuels challenge

Washington Ag March 14, 2007 Biofuel facilities now expected to be built in Washington could produce about 26 percent of the state's annual use of diesel and heating oil and about 16 percent of the gasoline consumed yearly. Dave Sjolding, renewable energy specialist for Washington State University sees that as quite rapid progress but he admits, not a lot of the feed stock to make the biodiesel and ethanol in those plants is coming from Washington farmers and that says Sjolding is one of the key challenges. Sjolding: "This needs to work to the financial advantage of our farmers, our rural economy. And you are starting to see some of that happen. As I understand it down in the Basin in the irrigated area a lot of corn is probably going to be planted this spring. They literally bought out all supply of seed for the good varieties. That is a shift. And as the corn price goes up that is going to start driving some of the other prices up for our farmers. So you can begin to see some of the economic benefits starting to impact in different ways." WSU economist Kate Painter suggests it may be necessary to give farmers a direct subsidy as an incentive to grow oilseed crops for biodiesel production. I'm Bob Hoff.