IT IS TIME

[Hobbyfarmer]

It is time for some serious questions....

Are we in the process of rolling over the ethonal market to the backwaters and history books?

Literally millions spent on E85 and blender pumps, much of it our money.

What are we gonna put it in? Corn is cheap, we don't need the market?

General Motors, nothing over e15 is available.

Ford only has one option in F 150 pickups.to burn anything over e15.

Fiat (Dodge) seems to be at e15 too.

Where is the corn promotion board? Where is Farm Bureau? Where are farm state legislators?

Where are you?

With corn under $3 & Milo under $2.50 we need a use for every bu.  

A fill up of 35 gals of e85 that is probably about 70% corn squeezin's still gets rid of 10 bushels of corn and creates 170#'s of cattle protein.supplement.

Should not be anything new out here in farm country that isn't flex fuel (or at least B20) for those buying a new set of wheels. Vote with your checkbook and send the rest a letter telling them they dropped the ball.

If we want a market and a price with a profit, might just have to make a little noise.

Is a ARC welfare payment a year or so later enough? My county did not get one last year, maybe it'll be your turn next?  

I'd rather get my profit up front with the cash sale, not a pig in the poke amount a year or so later.

Let's don't let this get away from us.  

I'm gonna be asking all my suppliers and any salesman that drive in here IN A NON FLEX FUEL VEHICLE " WHY AREN'T YOU SUPPORTING MY BUSINESS, YOU WANT ME TO SUPPORT YOURS."

All those seed  corn dudes with the new Chevy pickups are in deep do-do...

[hardnox]

Ram did the "It Takes a Farmer" ad to try to grab some of that 179 money, looks like they ought to back it up with a full flex fuel truck.

Oct RBOB at the same price as ETOH is sort of a problem for the broader public, though. Take it to $2 and we'd probably brew a fair bit more hooch.

I've always been interested in seeing some sort of policy proposal to create more elastic ethanol demand at the boundary although I remain firm in the belief that it should also contain some greater flexibility on the other end as well- more cuts in the possible eventality of extreme tightness. That seems to be a non-starter with the industry.

[Hobbyfarmer]

Wheat is $2.81 just a little bit ago in nw Kansas, elevators full, and mountains of it piled all over the western 1/2 of the state soon to be joined by bigger mountains of Milo, and then there will be the Tetons of grain piles,...corn. 

That boondoggle E plant at Houghton, ks  needs to be up and running those piles into something useable,  Not just sitting there, and not wasting organic material needed for erosion control.  We need to quit wasting our crude oil at $40 barrel. (What most don't know is that there is a "basis" in the crude oil market too)

[roarintiger1]

Food prices are way too high.   Food companies are price gouging the American public.   They are making record profits on the backs of the American farmer.  Yet no one seems to care.  People are way too complacent about their food supply. 

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I don't sell seed corn, but I run bio-diesel in my Ram.  🙂

[elcheapo]

Well boys and girls, I just don't know anymore.
I think the economy is in such damn bad shape
Everyone is out to jab a knife in each other's back
And the turn the knife to inflict more pain.

Our "underdogs"...have people so far displaced
From the nuts and bolts of agricultural and just go
To peppy meetings...they don't know or care and
Are not paid enough to do something about it.

Too many people with their own agenda.

What can we do ?
Fire up the moonshine plants
Sell corn/wheat/Milo furnaces like hot cakes.

We need to restart the pl 480 good program around
The world.
We have cheap food....there are alot of hungry
People.....
Yes....more government spending....but it provides
A needed service...do away with surplus and
Feed starving people world wide


Problem.....to do all of this will take several years.

How many of us will still be around ?

[timetippingpt]

Funny, one thing I brought up at our meeting this week, where is the wheat board? Dead?

Pretty compelling case can be made for a 10% setaside seems to me. You are required to

set-a-side 10% and we give you a 20 cent increase in the PLC on the remainder.

I'm not a policy geek, just seems like it would be cheaper for my suburban neighbors

to fund a setaside than what might be huge PLC payments. Oh, and you are required

to plant flowers on the 10% to save the pollintors.

[rayjenkins]

Advocates for more flex fuel vehicles need to do some research.......remember when you could see those nice commericals on TV with cornfields and GM promoting flex fuel vehicles...

here is the dirty little secret......GM wanted you to buy a flex fuel vehicle, but could have given a rip whether you used anything above E-0 in your tank.....why??  Because selling flex fuel vehicles gave them additional mileage credits that allowed them to keep producing lower mileage vehicles longer, and we're all aware that margins on pickups are the sweet spot for car companies.....

so, now we are in a situation where the govt is dialing back credits for flex fuel vehicles in favor or electrics, etc.....here is a link to some items, one of which talks about flex fuel vehicles.. #2 mentions E-85 

so, where do you go from here?? It's going to be a do it yourself project between farmers and ethanol producers..........E-85 is not the holy grail most believed........offering consumer choice in the form of blender pumps that allow the consumer to "pick a number" is a more palatable solution

and remember....just because corn is cheap does not have to mean that the margin to make ethanol is large......there are many factors involved....

exports are the bright spot......are you working on that angle??

Ray J

[rayjenkins]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-7-most-expensive-regs-in-obamas-climate-plan/article/2598653

[hardnox]

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/24145-study-biofuels-increase-rather-than-decrease-heat-trapping-ca...

I'll betcha anything that Harbaugh is behind this.

Regardless of what may or may not be, corn ethanol has had its political heydey. Probably the only way it gets ramped up big time would be in a state of national emergency.

The 10% is likely untouchable but presumably total liquid fuel use will decline modestly over time.

Presumably higher oil prices are in the offing somewhere out there, at which time higher blends may be more economically attractive. but you might be talking a couple bgy at most.

That's sort of an interesting prospect, though, should those conditions arise. You'd assume that if the net 600 mb was close enough to the nub vs. coen stocks, the corn market would tend to bid itself to near breakeven for the stills.