—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 3,1979 126 Farmers aren’t waiting for the nation’s leaders to agree on a fuel policy. They have the basic ingredients for producing an important fuel and they’re moving ahead in that direction. And while the fuel experts debate the merits of alcohol and other non-petroleum fuels, many farmers are already producing it and the free enterprise system is working hard to get small alcohol producing units on to the market. Farmers know that the alcohol that’s now being used in gasohol comes from farm crops and they rightly reason that since they’re the ultimate source of this important fuel, why not shorten the process that turns their grain into alcohol, that is added to fuel and then sold back to them as gasohol. So they’re ex perimenting with on-farm alcohol production and dozens of enterprising companies are working around the clock m a frantic race to be the first on the market with factory made stills designed to make farmers self-sufficient for fuel. Granted, an alcohol still isn’t going to produce diesel oil, but not all farmers burn diesel oil all the time and maybe in the future the move would be away from diesel powered equipment and toward machines that could run on pure alcohol, gasohol, or some other mix. CATTLE HEAD TE AARON S. GROFF & SON FARM & DAIRY STORE RD3. Ephrata, PA 17522 (Hmkletown) Phone (717)354-4631 Store Hours 7AM to 9 P M Ck»»ed lues , Wed & Sat at 5 30 P M Farm Talk Jerry Webb Some farmers and some researchers and some businesses have the technology to turn farm products into fuel that will run internal combustion engines and that’s an im portant first step in this whole energy saving process. It’s more than just experimenting, although a lot of that is still being done. A Michigan firm, for example, already has a go anywhere portable still that will produce 20 gallons of 192-proof alcohol per hour from shelled corn or other grain. The company, R.B. Industries, claims to be producing alcohol for less than 15 cents a gallon. Company president William Kanitz says he's already turned down a sizable offer from a major company that wants to buy out his operation. But he thinks that buying out would amount to a closing down of an im portant fuel-producing process. So he’s opted to stay in business and see what the market holds for his firm. The R.B. Industries portable stills are selling for $15,000 each and already the company has all the orders it can handle. Another firm, Alternative Energy Limited, of Colby, Kansas, has pilot models in production and is talcing orders for stills that cost as much as $25,000 each. That company is promising delivery within eight to ten weeks of ordering. It plans to R THE TTLEMAN DOES NOT TIME TO L WITH PMENT CAN’T NDON maiKet two basic mooeis ot on-farm stills—one that produces 200 gallons of alcohol a day from shelled com and another tailed a bio-mass gasifier, that produces a mixture of gasses generated from shelled com and other grain, wood chips, crop residues, coal, or virtually anything that will bum. And yet another company, Sludge Express of Sheldon, lowa, is offering a still patterned after a research model developed at South Dakota State University. Its engineers are still making refinements, but they plan to be on the market before the end of the year. Hundreds of corn and small grain farmers, primarily in the midwest, are doing their own ex perimenting with home built stills. And the interest among farmers is running high. One innovative farmer, who has a working still already in operation, reports having to charge |lOO a visit just to hold down the traffic at his farm. Another group, the Great Northern Equipment Company of Springfield, Illinois, is developmg a 30- gallon-per-hour ethanol plant for converting shelled corn into alcohol. It’s designed for individual farms, but is not quite ready for the market, according to a company spokesman. And yet another development- in the fuel- ' \ \ x -f ( 'O*L All types of Dump Bodies Jl* ** f Van Bodies & Stake Bodies “Jr"0: WE BUILP WOODEIVI LIVESTQCK BODIES V - D. K. Hostetler, Inc. Rt. 322 Milroy, PA 17063 717-667-3921 alcohol business—the National Alcohol Fuel Production Association has been formed and has as its primary purpose to help those interested in this new energy source to make the best decisions. An association spokesman says, “We’re encouraging far mers interested in on-the farm production of alcohol fuel to attend workshops where they can get in-depth information and the latest technology.” So while the opponents of gasohol argue that it takes more energy to produce than its worth, and con servationists worry about the impact of farm fuel production on the nation’s conservation plans, and while consumers worry about their food supply, some people are going ahead with the production of alcohol fuel. Some fanners aren’t waiting until the final verdict is in. They’re ex perimenting with the process and some are ac tually producing alcohol that is being used a farm fuel. Where that will take them eventually remains to be seen but it’s a pretty sure bet that farm-produced alcohol is going to become an in creasingly important source of farm fuel. In fact, it’s destined to be more im portant as a fuel source for all of us and the impact that will have on American agriculture could be staggering. HOSTETLER TRUCK EQUIPMENT * \ ~ 3 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland announced recently that import fees on sugar will be reduced to zero on raw sugar and .52 cent per pound on refined sugar. Bergland said the reduction, the second in a week, was the result of a further nse m world sugar prices. The new fees become effective the day after the SELLING AND SERVICING "KNAPHEIDE" Gram and Livestock Bodies ' Stake and Contractor Bodies Utility or Service Bodies 'THIELE" "sth WHEEL TRAILERS" Livestock Trailers Grain & Dump Trailers Flatbed Trailers Industrial Trailers "PICK UP" ACCESSORIES Stock Racks Dump Bodies Aluminum Caps p Sugar import fees reduced again Wr * T~ IWWWBCjfc filing of a notice of the change with the Federal Register, which must be done by close of business Wednesday, Oct. 24. The fees, which are set under a flexible import fee system based on world sugar prices, had been reduced last week to .76 cent per pound on raw sugar and 1.28 cents per pound for refmed. The new fees are based on average prices during Oct. 8- 19. M
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