Ohio Correspondent

LONDON, Ohio – Alternative energies and biotechnology were among the more popular topics during the 45th annual Farm Science Review last week.

Candace Pollock, FSR media relations coordinator, reported 119,550 people attended the three-day event hosted by Ohio State University at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center.

During Question-the-Authorities sessions on Sept. 19, Matt Roberts, Ohio State University and OSU Extension economist, predicted the corn market continuing to expand into its fourth year because of the growing ethanol industry.

“At least one more year of expansion,” he told listeners. After that, Roberts said the market will begin to find some equilibrium.

He said the “mandated consumer” market - made up of people who buy gasoline blended with ethanol - have no choice.

“As a consumer, you are very price insensitive,” he said. Also, there’s a similar group who buy ethanol as an additive to enhance octane.

However, Roberts said the market will begin reaching the limit on those two markets and will have to start marketing ethanol as E85. Consumers then will have a choice whether they buy gasoline or ethanol. Because vehicles operating on ethanol have a 25 percent fewer miles per gallon, he said ethanol’s price will have to be lower than gasoline.

Roberts sees a dramatic decrease in the number of new ethanol plants being built. “Almost no plants have been announced in ’07,” he said. “Ethanol plants are already changing hands.”

He said ethanol will remain profitable, but will require more management to reduce input costs and increase output. He foresees corn selling in the $3 per bushel range through 2010. “At around $3, the industry is teetering on the edge of expansion,” he said.

Other elements that will affect prices will be determined by factors such as government policy, economic growth and population growth.

“There are a lot more variables coming into play now,” he said. In the soy biodiesel arena, Roberts predicted fewer soybeans being used for making biodiesel and more of other types of vegetable oil. “Oil generally is oil,” he said, and the type doesn’t make much difference to biodiesel producers.

However, elsewhere at the FSR, another group was demonstrating how farmers can make their own electricity using soybean oil. In the Ohio Soybean Council Pavilion, Technology Management Inc. (TMI) demonstrated for the first time its solid oxide fuel cell system which operates on soybean oil.

The project, funded by the Ohio Soybean Council, the USDA and Ohio’s Third Frontier program, showed how TMI’s kilowatt scale fuel cell systems can enable Ohio’s small farms to become energy independent by generating their own renewable energy on-site from soybean oil.

According to the Cleveland-based developer, the fuel cell is the first known instance where unblended soybean oil has been converted by a fuel cell system into electricity.

Next to the Question-the-Authorities area, representatives from Green Energy Ohio were telling visitors about wind and solar power. Kemp Jaycox, wind programs manager, said wind power on individual farms is a possibility in much of Ohio. He displayed maps of wind strength throughout the state at various heights. Jaycox also said solar power is possible for most of Ohio.

For more information on these topics, visit www.GreenEnergyOhio.org

This farm news was published in the Sept. 26, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.