Click Here: Agriculture New Battleground for Fuel
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An energy bill passed last year by Congress calls for ethanol production to increase from 7 billion to 36 billion gallons over the next 12 years.
What does that mean? In Massachusetts, a biofuels task force has encouraged the use of cellulosic biofuels such as soybeans, brush and biomass derived from marginal lands. The type of harvest suitable for the yeoman farms prevalent in New England and an extra crop to help sustain them.
Farther west, corn and soybean are major cash crops for food, feedstock for animals and for biofuels — and livestock producers are beginning to feel the pinch. BusinessWeek last year described it as "one of the first signs of a coming agricultural transformation and a global economic shift."
The governor of Texas has called for a reduction to federal biofuel production and is being backed by farmers across the nation who are blaming ethanol for rising food prices.
At a National Press Club the other day, it seems Berkshire County's Lee Harrison, executive vice president of the planned $65 million Berkshire Biodiesel, was the lone voice of dissent.
Read The Associated Press story below. (Note that AP incorrectly places Berkshire Biodiesel in Williamstown. Harrison lives in Williamstown but Berkshire Biodiesel is in Pittsfield.)
Texas governor trying to slash ethanol production from Associated Press
