Western Morning News: Financial Times Information Limited - Europe Intelligence Wire
America gassed up on maize-based auto fuel August 7, 2002 4:07pm http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020807670.4_fd3e001bdf5b800f RSPB South West policy officer Mark Robins is on a fact-finding tour of the USA TRAVELLING around the American Mid-West, it's quite normal now to pull into a petrol (gas!) station and have the option of buying an ethanol-based fuel. OK, so its only ten per cent by bulk - but this maize-based fuel is hitting it big time here. Last week a shiny new ethanol plant owned by a co-operative of corn and soya bean farmers in Cottonwood County, Minnesota was pointed out to me. Located next to the railway line (yes, the railway still exists) for ease of shipping, I thought this was something to stimulate the minds back home. Here's an industrial revolution in which petroleum-based resources are replaced with annually-renewable ones, such as corn and other plant materials. As an industrial revolution alone this story paints a way forward, a third option for the commodity farmers in the Beans and Corn Belt. Add to this the potentials to get into the renewables business and we start to get the double whammy policy makers are continually searching for. It's the business and environment agenda that interests me and should make the rural enterprise community sit up in England. In the US, bio-industrial development in plant matter-based materials and products is expected to grow to $470 billion dollars by the end of this decade. The business includes ethanol production, biodiesel, carbohydrate-based industrial goods, and bio plastics. I'm no man for agri-business, but if we were to take this road in the South West surely we would want to see these products manufactured in ways that protected the environment, enhanced rural communities and provided positive economic benefits to farmers and other local businesses. To do this there is some ground-breaking work to be got right. Each stage of the production, manufacturing, distribution, and disposal of bio-based industrial products, will significantly affect our environment, our economy and our communities. Surely we should want to avoid an emerging carbohydrate economy being just as destructive as the current petroleum dominated economy? Starting with the consumers, it is exactly this possibility of the economic, social, and ecological win-win-win that would attract many customers to bio-based products. These positive attributes are key to engaging widespread public interest and getting the Government interested in such products. A growing number of buyers are attracted to bio-based products and investors are showing a preference to the companies that make them. They want their purchases to be directed towards protecting the environment, and supporting local producers and the overall economy. Turning the possibility of sustainability into reality is critical to gaining and maintaining consumer confidence in a new carbohydrate economy. One critical component will be the development and implementation of industry-wide standards that are based on the idea of the "triple bottom line" - economic, ecological, and community sustainability. Standards are tedious things, but let's get this one right. The strength of the organic sector in the UK has been its unambiguous focus on standards. At the farm level, bio-production standards must ensure that the feedstocks are being grown, processed, and transported in ways that protect the environment, promote the economic well-being of the producers and enhance the communities affected by production. Manufacturers of plastics made of maize, switchgrass/mesocanthus, or other agricultural products, will be able to use these standards to ensure that the environmental benefits of their products are doubly enhanced by the environmental benefits of sustainably produced raw materials for bio-based products. These standards are the route to that market advantage. Where will these standards emerge from? A wide range of bodies, including the RSPB, are developing approaches for other farming sectors. Maybe this would be a good one for a progressive alliance of farming and environmental groups. `` ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/RN.GAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
