Big Picture Agriculture

This week marked the ribbon cutting ceremonies for the new Novozyme plant located on the Missouri River just North of Omaha, Nebraska. Blair was chosen by Novozyme as the site for their largest and most advanced enzyme plant in the U.S. because it was “within a day’s drive of 60 percent of all ethanol production in the United States.” A $28,400,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act tax credit was awarded to Novozymes for building the plant which created 400 construction jobs and 100 career jobs.

Novozyme uses microorganisms as its workhorses to ‘express’ enzymes, stating that one microorganism can divide into trillions in 24 hours. The high cost of “enzyme cocktails” strong enough to break down stubborn cellulose fiber has been a stumbling block in reaching cellulosic ethanol production goals to date. This cost has been cut gradually from as much as $8 to $10 per gallon of ethanol, just for the enzyme mix, to 50 cents per gallon and now lower. Biofuels currently make up 16% of Novozyme’s $2 billion in revenues. Novazyme also has plants in China, Brazil, and Denmark.

The new facility in Nebraska will produce enzymes for the production of both first and second generation bioethanol. First generation bioethanol is produced from sugar or starchy raw materials such as corn. Second-generation bioethanol is produced from feedstock containing cellulosic biomass such as the stalks, leaves, and husks of corn plants, wood chips, sawdust, and switch grass. They expect demand for the company’s enzymes to grow because it takes about 10 times as much enzyme to produce a gallon of cellulosic ethanol as for corn. The Blair plant is designed to expand its capacity by five or six times as demand for the second-generation biofuel grows.

Global production capacity of advanced biofuels is expected to reach 15 million gallons in 2012. This compares to 14.2 billion gallons of corn ethanol produced each year in the U.S. alone. In 2012-13, several advanced biofuel plants will open around the world, including Shengquan in China, Beta Renewables in Italy, GraalBio in Brazil and Fiberight in the United States.

Bringing cellulosic ethanol production to scale has been historically unaffordable and has bankrupted more than one company. Its technology has always been just around the corner. The U.S. government mandate for cellulosic ethanol has been a pipe dream so far, always reduced to next to nothing after the amount produced doesn’t come close to the amount mandated.

Will we get the real deal any time soon? We can have all the best enzymes in the world, for free even, but it won’t solve the logistical problems of collecting, storing, drying, and transporting the bulky biomass materials to the “second generation” biofuels plants, and the cost of doing so will rise as the price of crude oil rises. Most likely these operations will prefer to utilize waste materials such as wood chips and sawdust and corn at plants that have already stockpiled material, eliminating the need for transport and storage.

To see the the new Novozyme plant in Blair, see the video below, provided by Novozyme.

(I have seen Blair’s Cargill plant and it truly is massive.)

chart: USDA

India is forecast to become the world’s leading beef exporter in 2012 due to an expanding dairy herd, efficiency improvements, increased slaughter and price-competitiveness in the international market particularly vis-à-vis Brazil. India’s exports are exclusively deboned frozen buffalo meat (carabeef) which is included in USDA’s global estimates of beef (bovine) meat production. According to the most recent Indian Livestock Census (2007), buffalo comprise approximately one-third of the bovine herd. Buffalo are preferred to cattle due to their adaptability to climatic conditions and high milk fat content as dairy production fuels the bovine sector.

Export sales have made significant inroads in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia (key Brazilian markets) as all carabeef is lower priced and produced according to halal standards. Further, carabeef is lean, with positive blending characteristics important to processors. In 2012, additional export orientated slaughterhouses are expected to come on line, increasing supplies. Production gains are largely destined for the export market. Domestic demand is constrained by cold-chain facilities and consumer preference for non-bovine proteins such as poultry products, dairy products and pulses therefore merely keeping pace with population growth.

photo: Deere

• Overall, farming machinery costs have increased by about 15 percent between 2010 and 2012.
• Between 2010 and 2012, the price of a 215 horsepower tractor has risen 18 percent, costing $215,000 in 2012.
• Chisel plowing costs rose 13 percent from 2010 to 2012, costing $14.50 per acre in 2012.
• Cultivating costs rose 11 percent from 2010 to 2012, costing $9.80 per acre in 2012.
• Planting costs rose 14 percent from 2010 to 2012, costing $12.70 per acre in 2012.
• Fuel costs rose 25 percent from 2010 to 2012, costing $3.50 per gallon in 2012.
• Labor costs rose 6 percent from 2010 to 2012, costing $17 per hour in 2012.
• The per acre cost of combining decreased from 2010 to 2012, because acreage per combine went up.

photo: Flickr CC via diaper

So in late May 2012, the ASTM decided that quick action needed to be taken if the fuel was to be given broad-market access, and they reduced the volume requirement to 51 percent, careful to preserve its status as more than half ethanol. (The previous E85 actual ethanol volume requirement was 68-83 percent.) This is now termed the Standard Specification for Ethanol Fuel Blends for Flexible-Fuel Automotive Spark-Ignition Engines. Overall, this move should increase the use of the product because it will improve the flexibility for fuel blenders while still ensuring optimal performance for drivers of flex-fuel vehicles while broadening the use of mid-level ethanol blends.

Who said, “People feed, shelter, and breed cattle and hogs, and in return the animals provide food and clothing. We must never abuse them, because that would break an ancient contract. We owe it to animals to give them decent living conditions and a painless death.” ??

The above quote is by Dr. Temple Grandin. With a PhD in Animal Science, she is the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. Her insights into animal behavior and her innovations in livestock handling have revolutionized food-animal welfare everywhere. Because her mind thinks in pictures, she is able to see the world from the perspective of the animal, giving her the ability to know how to treat them more humanely.

To honor her here today, I’m featuring three videos. One, the trailer from the very popular HBO documentary about her life. Two, her famous TED talk which has been viewed over one million times. And three, a ten minute tribute to her from Colorado State University, where she has been employed as a faculty instructor for twenty some years.

What an inspiration to us all! Thank you, Temple.