Month: June 2010

June 5, 2010 General Ag News and Notes 1 Comment

Hawaii is nation’s driest state – Star Bulletin

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Next month will mark a year of "extreme drought" conditions, and Hawaii has become the driest state in the nation, according to the National Weather Service.

Below-normal rainfall is expected for the remainder of the summer, the National Weather Service says.

Most of the state is ranked between abnormally dry (D-1) and exceptionally dry (D-4), the weather service said.

Hawaii was last drought-free April 15, 2008, according to a drought information statement issued yesterday. "The ongoing episode of extreme drought began nearly a year ago on July 27, 2009," the statement said.

Jim Weyman, metorologist-in-charge of the Honolulu Forecast Office, said, "Hawaii is the only location with D4 (exceptional drought) or D3 (extreme drought) at this time. We’re the driest location in the entire United States."

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June 5, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Hawaii and Related Agriculture Daily Charts for the week ending 06-04-2010

Hawaii and Related Agriculture Daily Charts for the week ending 06-04-2010
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The annual charts have bee updated. CLICK HERE to view.

The 360 day comparative price, line and histogram charts, page has been updated also. CLICK HERE to view.

Maui Land and Pineapple (MLP) 06-04-2010
Maui Land and Pineapple (MLP)

Whole Food Markets (WFMI) 06-04-2010
Whole Food Markets (WFMI)

ML Macadamia Orchards LP (NNUT) 06-04-2010
ML Macadamia Orchards LP (NNUT)

Alexander and Baldwin (ALEX) 06-04-2010
alexweek060410

Monsanto (MON) 06-04-2010
Monsanto (MON)

Syngenta (SYT) 06-04-2010
Syngenta (SYT)

DUPONT E I DE NEM (DD) 06-04-2010
Syngenta (SYT)

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June 3, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Exxon $600 Million Algae Investment Makes Khosla See Pipe Dream – Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg

June 3 (Bloomberg) — Inside an industrial warehouse in South San Francisco, California, Harrison Dillon, chief technology officer of startup Solazyme Inc., examines a beaker filled with a brown paste made of sugar cane waste. While the smell brings to mind molasses, this goo, called bagasse, won’t find its way into people-pleasing confections.

Instead, scientists will empty it into 5-gallon metal flasks of algae and water. The algae will gorge on the treat — filling themselves with fatty oils as they double in size every six hours, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its July issue.

Down the hall, past a rainbow of algae strains arrayed in Petri dishes, Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Wolfson shows off a gallon-size bottle of slightly viscous liquid. After drying the algae, wringing out the oil and shipping it to a refinery, this is the prize: diesel fuel that Wolfson says is chemically indistinguishable from its petroleum-based equivalent and which has already powered a Jeep Liberty and a Mercedes Benz sedan.

“We’ve produced tens of thousands of gallons, and by the end of 2010, I hope I can say we’ve produced hundreds of thousands,” Wolfson, 39, says. “In the next two years, we should get the cost down to the $60 to $80-a-barrel range.”

At that price, Solazyme’s algae fuel would compete with $80-a-barrel oil.

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June 2, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maroney: Class-Action Chapter 12 bankruptcy as a farm solution | Vtdigger.org

By Editor on June 2, 2010

Editor’s note: This oped is by James Maroney of Leicester. He is a former organic dairy farmer.

The dairy business in the spring of 2010 is heading for an ugly climax. In previous times, when milk prices were merely low, conventional farmers would hunker down to wait until prices improved. But when prices are $5 to $8 per hundred weight below cost, as they are now, even “efficient” farmers face the prospect of bankruptcy.

Any concern that finds itself cash flow negative will sooner or later be forced out of business. Secured creditors can force a defaulting business into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and auction its assets for their own accounts. The owner gets what is left, which is invariably nothing. Forced bankruptcy carries hard connotations of failure and shame, feelings that proud farmers—perhaps more than any other group—will want to avoid.

But there is an important difference between forced liquidation under Chapter 7 and voluntary reorganization under Chapter 12. Voluntary filing for Federal Bankruptcy Protection is a smart, pro-active tactic available to any farmer who needs time to adjust to market forces beyond his or her control. Under Chapter 12, a federal statute written especially for farmers, the farmer stays in business as a “debtor in possession,” dedicating cash flow not to debt service but to a new business plan.

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June 2, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Mansfield Oil Acquires Western Ethanol

Mansfield Oil Acquires Western Ethanol

Addition of established ethanol wholesaler and logistics provider broadens company service offering in Western US

Atlanta, GA (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 2, 2010 — Today, Mansfield Oil Company announces the acquisition of substantially all of Western Ethanol’s assets and the addition of Doug Vind to the Mansfield team. Orange County, CA-based Western Ethanol is a leading ethanol wholesaler and logistics provider and is led by industry innovator Vind. In addition to providing bulk deliveries of ethanol, Western Ethanol specializes in the distribution of E85 for use in Flex Fuel Vehicles and is a leading distributor of E85 in the western United States.

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Our acquisition of Western Ethanol is an important addition to our renewable fuels strategy and provides Western’s customers and suppliers with long-term stability in a partner they have valued for many years

We are also excited to add Doug Vind to our management team. He has been an innovator in the ethanol industry over the past two decades and we look forward to integrating his vision and experience into our long-term strategy for our renewable fuels business.

I’m proud to have Doug on our team and by leveraging his experience in the west, in conjunction with the C&N division nationally and our ethanol team in Charlottesville, VA we will now have the most complete nationwide ethanol marketing and supply team in the country.

We look forward to offering our customers the additional supply chain management capabilities provided by Mansfield being able to grow both our wholesaling efforts and proprietary ethanol transloading services business with their support

Western Ethanol’s customers include major gasoline refiners and large gasoline blenders for bulk ethanol sales, as well as independent gasoline retailers and federal, state and municipal automotive fleets for E85 sales throughout California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.

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