It compares the production of biodiesel to winemaking while the "renewable" diesel made from animal fat is said to be similar to conventional diesel production. Tyson will ship beef, pork and chicken fat from a plant in Texas to a Conoco refinery to make the diesel fuel in a process the WSJ said" more resembles winemaking than oil refining. I support all renewable fuels, id fill my vehicle full of politicians piss if it would power it and help keep the environment clean as well as money...

The USDA s final estimate of the 2006 production not only shocked the market, but also scared end users into aggressively scrambling for coverage via the cash markets, futures and options markets. With corn rallying to buy acres this spring, soybeans will try to keep pace with corn as not to lose out on seeded acres. With the smaller production figure, the USDA also lowered projected ending stocks for this marketing year to the second-smallest in history at 752 million bu. producers will...

Keith Massey, a crop farmer and hog producer from Columbus Junction in southeast Iowa, contracted the bacterial disease brucellosis from his sows that were exposed to wild pigs. Under a national wildlife disease management program, Keirn said researchers will collect and test wild pigs in up to 25 states to look for the presence of classical swine fever. Wild hogs roaming through at least 39 states are lately alarming wildlife officials by their population growth in northern states, such...

Around the Northwest, there is growing attention to how the food that nourishes us is produced. For farms animals, it can make all the difference in the world. Paul Shapiro of The Humane Society of the United States' Factory Farming Campaign says reducing our dependence on factory farming practices, such as keeping pigs and chickens in cages their whole lives, might cut food supplies enough to require some modest diet changes toward more grains and vegetables. Paul Shapiro of The Humane...

Like Albertans who see an overheating economy with their oil boom, Iowans worry about the huge increase of trucks on their roads, about the refineries' voracious appetite for water leading to the depletion of ground water, about an influx of out-of-state workers, and about the overall upheaval in their traditional farm economies. As he does every year, he plans to rotate his crop this spring, planting half corn and half soybeans, resisting the trend to increase corn production. To a lesser...

Cargill to phase out pig crates. The company was responding to the group's request to follow the lead of Smithfield Foods inc., the world's largest pork processor, which announced in January it was phasing out the gestation crates. Dirk Jones, president of Cargill Pork, a division of Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions, told the animal rights group that Cargill has been moving to "group sow housing" over the past four years and has converted more than half of its company-owned and...