Renewable Energy and Climate Change Issues for Ag Highlighted by AgMRC

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES FOR AG HIGHLIGHTED BY AGMRC
Audio provided as a service to farm broadcasters by the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.
Audio with Don Hofstrand, Iowa State University Ag Economist.

Suggested Lead: The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center has an entire section of its website devoted to renewable energy. Information is available on ethanol, biodiesel, feedstocks, wind energy, solar energy and much more.There’s also a renewable energy newsletter.

 

Don Hofstrand - Iowa State University Ag Economist - is one author of the newsletter. He says it addresses not just renewable energy - but also climate change. He says that’s because the goal is to address problems the ag sector is currently facing and will face in the future. According to Hofstrand - renewable energy and climate change are definitely two of those issues…tape

 

Cut #1    :34         O.C…”in the future.”

 

Recognizing the great interest in both topics in agriculture - Hofstrand says the newsletter was started about four years ago…tape

 

Cut #2    :24         O.C…”climate change issues.”

 

Dr. Robert Wisner - Iowa State University Professor Emeritus - also writes for the newsletter. Hofstrand says his main focus is on topics like the availability of corn for ethanol and the price impacts of supply. While that is tracked monthly - Hofstrand focuses on a wider range of topics…tape

 

Cut #3    :25          O.C…”have on sustainability.”

 

Hofstrand has also looked at the impact of climate change on global crop production, the need for climate prediction information for agriculture and the role of natural gas in tomorrow’s energy economy.

 

Bu tsomething else made available by AgMRC (ag-mark) - and Hofstrand says perhaps of most interest to the end user - are some of the economic tools. He says there are some profitability models that get a lot of attention…tape

 

Cut #4    :38           O.C…”over time.”

 

There’s also information on corn and biodiesel profitability.

 

To access the renewable energy newsletters or the wealth of other information available from the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center -visit www dot agmrc dot org (www.agmrc.org). To access the renewable energy newsletters - just click on the renewable energy tab at the top of the home page.