Capitol Comments

As Food Prices Increase, Pennsylvania Turns to Cellulosic Ethanol

By Mikel Chavers

When the newest report from The Farm Foundation on rising food prices was released late last month, the topic of conversation among the study’s authors and a University of Nebraska public policy analyst shifted to cellulosic ethanol. The new generation of ethanol is being touted as the answer to the issues that come up when food—such as corn—is used for fuel.

And at least one state is driving demand for the new kind of ethanol—Pennsylvania became the first in the nation with a state-specific cellulosic ethanol mandate, according to Gov. Ed Rendell’s office.

Cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus and woodchips, would not compete with the country’s food supply, experts say.

Commodity Markets in Turmoil

By Mikel Chavers

Prices of grains have been rising in recent years and that could spell trouble for the South’s farmers and policymakers alike.

“Commodity markets have been on a rollercoaster for the last year to two years,” Louisiana Rep. Noble Ellington told Sunday’s audience at the Southern Legislative Conference’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee meeting.

The commodity markets are volatile, experts at the meeting agreed.

Jack Kelly, a representative from Perdue Farms said, “We in the poultry business are in a serious crisis.”

Costs for the poultry business have skyrocketed nearly $5 billion. Chicken cost 80 cents per pound in the late 1980s and early 1990s—but chicken today costs $1.20 per pound. Perdue forecasts chicken will hit $1.40 a pound by year’s end.

“We can’t have a country that’s using food to pay for our fuel,” Kelly said.

Southern Legislators Discuss Better Ag Education Programs, Community Colleges

By Mikel Chavers

In 10th grade, James Woodard was heading down the wrong path fast.

"But I had a dynamic teacher in our ag program that year," he said. As a young man without a plan, he was inspired by the teacher .

Then in 1987, he became an agriculture teacher in a Georgia high  school. But Georgia's agriculture program was in trouble -- and perhaps heading down the wrong path fast -- just like Woodard back in high school. As a young, ambitious teacher, Woodard was anxious to jumpstart Georgia's program.

"As I began looking around to other states I was very jealous of what they were doing," Woodard told an Agriculture and Rural Development Committee session at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference in Oklahoma City July 12.

MLC Innovations Award Recipients Named

Recipients from the Midwest were presented with the 2007 Innovations awards Tuesday evening during the Midwestern Legislative Conference’s Annual Meeting in Traverse City, Mich.
North Dakota’s Parental Responsibility Initiative for the Development of Employment (PRIDE) and Indiana’s BioTown USA were commended as exemplary state programs.