Green Fields: Ethanol industry seizes on oil spill to tout its benefits

The ethanol industry is using the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to try and bolster the image of biofuels.

"This tragedy can provide a teaching moment and once again steel the resolve of the American people to take this country in a new direction," the Renewable Fuels Association wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama.

The letter makes three requests for Obama:

• Raise immediately the limit on the amount of ethanol that can be added to gasoline from 10 to 12 percent.

• Raise the blend limit to 15 percent after pending government research is finished.

• Ease restrictions for loan guarantees being sought for advanced-biofuel projects.

Critics say the industry has a lot of nerve to cite the oil spill as a reason to support increased ethanol production when scientists have connected the industry to an existing dead zone in the Gulf. The dead zone has been linked to excess fertilizer that runs off cornfields and into the Mississippi River.

The Renewable Fuels Association letter "borders on being offensive, frankly, when we've made almost no progress in reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to the Gulf, which largely come form our agricultural operations in the Midwest," said Craig Cox of the Environmental Working Group.

Eat organic foods, cancer panel urges

A government report claims that the way Americans farm could be putting the public at risk for cancer and recommends people eat more organic products.

The study was issued Thursday by the President's Cancer Panel and looks at the potential risks from the environment. The cancer panel has two members - the third seat is vacant - and both were appointees of President George W. Bush.

The study includes a chapter on agriculture and goes into potential health hazards, including pesticides such as atrazine, which is used on cornfields, nitrogen fertilizers and veterinary pharmaceuticals. Fertilizer may increase cancer risk through the breakdown of the nitrogen during digestion, the study said. Nitrogen from fields seeps below ground and into drinking water supplies.

The Fertilizer Institute, the trade group that represents fertilizer manufacturers, expressed surprise at the report.

"We are unaware of any scientific information that warrants fertilizers' mention in this report, when in fact the nutrients found in fertilizers are required by all living organisms," the group said.

The group said there is evidence that exposure to nitrates actually enhances the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables. The report says that the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables may protect a person from getting cancer from the nitrates.

Pioneer names head of China operations

William S. Niebur has been named the head of Pioneer Hi-Bred's China operations, a segment the company described as "a key, long-term growth opportunity for the company."

Niebur previously led DuPont's crop genetics research and development efforts.

Pioneer opened its first seed corn research center in China in 1998. Since then it has created two joint ventures for products developed specifically for the local area.

Niebur joined Pioneer as a maize research station manager in 1983. He has held a number of positions in the research-and-development organization, including an assignment as the Pioneer European Corn Research director.

Niebur was promoted to vice president of Crop Genetics Research and Development in 2002, and named DuPont vice president in 2005.

John Soper now will lead DuPont's crop genetics research and development, assuming the role previously held by Niebur.

3 Republicans challenge Vilsack on local foods

The Obama administration's local-foods initiative is diverting money from rural areas to promote "locavore niche" food markets for well-to-do city dwellers, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and two Republicans on the Senate agriculture committee say.

"Unfortunately, this spending doesn't appear geared toward conventional farmers who produce the vast majority of our nation's food supply, but is instead aimed at small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets," the senators wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor.

With McCain, the other senators signing the letter were Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the senior Republican on the Senate agriculture committee, and Pat Roberts of Kansas.

Vilsack told the senators that rural areas will benefit from the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative and that the Department of Agriculture has been careful to stay within its legal authority for how money can be distributed under the programs.

source: desmoinesregister