Judge rules VeraSun can break Minnesota corn contracts

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — A bankruptcy judge in Delaware has ruled that VeraSun Energy Corp. can renege on its recent corn contracts for ethanol plants in Janesville and Welcome in southern Minnesota.

The ruling came over the objections of corn farmers and lenders who were concerned the ruling would destroy area farmer’s trust in the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company.

That could make it difficult for the southern Minnesota plants to maintain a corn supply when they begin operating.

VeraSun built the Janesville and Welcome plants, but neither has produced a gallon of ethanol.

VeraSun laid the groundwork for starting production, however, by contracting with local farmers for millions of bushels of corn.
A group called The Ad Hoc Committee of Corn Suppliers stated in a court filing that those farmers who have been storing corn or planning to plant corn for future contracts are now stuck in “limbo.”

2 Michigan counties dropped from bovine TB risk zone

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Areas in two Michigan counties no longer are considered potential high risk zones for bovine tuberculosis (TB) in livestock.

The state Department of Agriculture announced Dec. 1 it was dropping high risk designations for the zones in Iosco and Shiawassee counties. The move came after animal testing in the areas over the last several months revealed no bovine tuberculosis cases.

The Shiawassee County area is 100 miles south of the northern Lower Peninsula zone, where bovine tuberculosis cases have been concentrated in Michigan. The Iosco County areas are on the border and just south of the bovine TB area.

The Shiawassee and Iosco county regions came under scrutiny after bovine TB was confirmed in a couple of deer there in 2007.

Iowa ethanol plant shutters, looks for financing

STEAMBOAT ROCK, Iowa (AP) — The locally owned Pine Lake Corn Processors ethanol plant shut off production last week. The facility produced about 30 million gallons of ethanol a year.

Company president Larry Meints said it locked into high corn prices this summer. The three-year-old plant netted about $24 million in profits its first two years and employed about 30 people.

Meints said Pine Lake is looking for financing and hopes to reopen soon.

The plant is about 50 miles west of Waterloo. The announcement comes on the heels of a bankruptcy filing by ethanol giant VeraSun Energy Corp. in October, making it the second northeastern Iowa ethanol plant to halt production.

Grant funds Illinois ‘mad cow’ prevention efforts

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois can continue efforts to prevent “mad cow” disease in cattle with nearly $500,000 from the federal government.

The funding will help state regulators inspect farms and test cattle feed during the next two years. The Food and Drug Administration program enforces a ban on certain types of feed products. Illinois expects to conduct 400 inspections and 1,000 feed tests with the money.

Scientists believe the brain-wasting disease spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled body parts from infected animals. The U.S. banned many such products from feed in 1997, following an epidemic in cattle in the United Kingdom. An expansion of the ban takes effect next year.

In humans, a rare form of the disease has been linked to eating meat from infected cattle.

Survey: Iowa farmers see new value in hog manure

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — High fertilizer costs have some Iowa farmers coddling up to a previously shunned byproduct of the business: Manure.

There’s no indication that Iowans have taken to the smell of manure that hovers around many of the state’s hog lots, but a new survey from the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University shows farmers are placing a higher value on the commodity. Farmers said that’s because manure is a much cheaper alternative to commercial fertilizer.

Matt Russell of the center says the survey of 61 farmers makes clear that as commercial fertilizer has grown more expensive, more farmers have turned to simple manure. But as Lake City farmer Dwight Dial put it, if chemical fertilizer costs drop, “hog manure will stink again.”