Tag Archives: calendar
RPT-USDA Offers $181 mln To Help Build Advanced Biofuel Refineries
Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:11pm EDT Oct 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Monday announced $181 million in loan guarantees to build commercial-size refineries making advanced biofuels or to retrofit existing biorefineries to produce the cleaner-burning renewable fuels. Since 2008, the Agriculture Department has provided $684 million through the Biorefinery Assistance Program to support projects in eight states. Applications for the latest round of funding are due by Jan. 30. “This financing will expand the number of commercial biorefineries in operation in the United States that are producing advanced biofuels from non-food sources,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. USDA announced the funding at a time the federal mandate for biofuels is under challenge in Congress and in the bureaucracy. The Environmental Protection Agency has said it is considering whether to scale back the mandate, now dominated by corn-based ethanol. Advanced biofuels, made from plant materials like wood and grasses and producing fewer greenhouse gases than current fuels, were expected to match corn ethanol by the end of this decade but have been far slower to develop than expected. The Advanced Biofuels Association lists more than 200 plants, including biodiesel makers. Valero Inc. and Darling International are partners in a plant that opened in June to produce 137 million gallons a year of renewable diesel from animal fats and cooking oil. Michael McAdams, head of the biofuels trade group, said the offer of loan guarantees would be “incredibly helpful” to smaller companies that want to expand production. One maker of cellulosic biofuels, KiOR Inc., announced $100 million in financing on Monday to build a second refinery at Columbus, Mississippi, to convert wood chips into fuel. The original refinery produced 357,532 gallons of gasoline, diesel and fuel oil from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31. KiOR has a target of producing 13 million gallons a year at the plant. Continue reading
Increased Farm Buyer Scrutiny Likely
22 Oct, 2013 JOHN KERIN THE Abbott government’s plan to increase scrutiny of foreign farm purchases looks set to pass the Senate despite a simmering internal Coalition row over Chinese investment. The Greens and Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan have backed the Coalition’s plan to lower the threshold which triggers scrutiny of foreign farmland purchases by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). This gives the Coalition the numbers it needs to pass the legislation through the Senate. The Greens and Senator Madigan both want a lower threshold than the $15 million outlined by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in his pre-election foreign investment policy. Labor has so far indicated it does not support lowering the threshold. Liberals and Nationals are divided over increasing the threshold to $1 billion for China in an effort to clinch a free trade agreement. Mr Abbott says he wants to sign a free-trade deal with all three North Asian powers, China, Japan and South Korea, within 12 months. Government sources suggest the government would be better off passing the legislation before a new Senate, where views on foreign investment are much more uncertain, is sworn in on July 1 next year. Mr Abbott released a foreign investment policy ahead of the election which said the threshold of $248 million which triggers a review by the Foreign Investment Review Board would be reduced to $15 million. The policy included plans to establish a national register to keep track of foreign-owned land holdings. The policy was reaffirmed by Mr Abbott and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce during the election campaign. The policy has largely been driven as part of a response to growing community anxiety over perceived high levels of foreign land ownership in Australia. Treasurer Joe Hockey indicated the Abbott government could increase the investment threshold to $1 billion if China was prepared to enter in to a free-trade deal with Australia. Key Nationals, including Mr Joyce, and New South Wales Senator John Williams, are staunchly opposed to doing a special deal for China. They argue profits will be lost to Beijing, rather than supporting local Australian communities. Senator Madigan said on Monday that “any investment in Australian farmland should be vetted”. “You can buy a pretty big plot of highly productive rich arable land in parts of Australia for $15 million,” he said.Alarm bells He said given at least 11.3 per cent of farmland was foreign-owned, “it should be ringing alarm bells for those in government and in opposition”. “We should not be selling out the farm to suit vested interests,” he said. Greens Leader Christine Milne said her party favoured lowering the FIRB trigger to $5 million and a tough national interest test. “We shouldn’t sell any land and water to a wholly owned government subsidiary at all and in relation to corporate purchases there should be a threshold of no more than $5 million,” she said. Senator Milne said countries were buying up productive land around the world to ensure they had a source of food when climate change-induced food shortages inevitably occurred. “It is no longer about trade, but survival,” she said. Senator Milne said the Greens would propose their own foreign investment bill when parliament resumed in November. Continue reading
‘Deep-Pocketed’ UK Land Investors Hit 3-Year High
The number of large investors queuing to buy UK farmland has hit its highest in three years, but demand is focused on high-quality arable operations, whose premium over low-quality grassland continues to increase. Savills, the land consultancy, said that the number of investors with £5m-10m to spend on farmland had risen to its highest quarterly total in three years, some 13% above the average. “There has been an increase in the number of applicants who have deeper pockets for buying farmland”, said the group, which has investors with some £6bn to spend on farmland on its books. “A large proportion of these funds will still be available into next year,” given the shortage of farmland for sale, with the supply of 128,000 hectares in the first nine months “historically low”, the group said. What is in demand However, buyers were focused on high quality arable farms, particularly in the east of England – a factor reflected in price growth which has hit 8.5% in the January-to-September period, taking average values nearly to £8,300 an acre. That includes growth of 2.3% in the latest quarter. “What they want is top quality, big farms, that will give them price appreciation and a bit of yield,” Ian Bailey, Savills’ head of rural research, told Agrimoney.com. “They are looking for big blocks of arable land. It is that market which has been doing best.” Regional gap However, there were differences within the market, with investors preferring the east of England which government data last week reaffirmed as the best yielding for wheat, with an average of 7.9 tonnes per hectare. That increased its advantage over wetter western areas, which were hurt particularly by the wet spell in 2012 and in the early months of 2013, with north west yields this year averaging 5.4 tonnes per hectare. In the land market, while prime arable farms in the east of England land appreciated by 4.6% in the July-to-September quarter, the market in western areas, including Wales, stagnated. Indeed, in Wales, research “indicates no change in prime arable values since December”, leaving them at about £7,000 an acre. ‘Really sluggish’ In the market for smaller and grassland farms too, and those where residential assets make up a large proportion of the overall value, activity “is really sluggish”, Mr Bailey said. “For a stock farm of 150 acres, you are probably looking at sub-5% price growth, compared with 8-10% for the top end.” The group said it was “comfortable” with its forecast for farmland values overall rising by 8.8% this year, but acknowledged that prices of top arable operations, and “the best” dairy farms, would see stronger growth. Continue reading
