Local Corn, Soybean Fuel Studies Under Way York County Hires Ag Development Specialist DAVELEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff YORK (York Co.) Crop growers and economic develop ment leaders continue to investi gate the possibility of building biofuel production facilities in the area. Turning local crops into fuel could boost profits for farmers, in addition to providing cleaner burning, renewable substitutes for fossil fuels, supporters of the inititative say. Two new studies will assess the feasibility of producing ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybeans in a nine-county area of southeast Pennsylvania. “Both studies are moving ahead,” said Scott Welsh, re cently hired York County agri culture economic development • employed by Brubaker Agronomic Consulting Service, Brownstown, for six years before coming to the YCEDC. Welsh said his job will present opportu nities to work on a va riety of projects to bolster local agricul ture. “I’ll be going out and talking to farmers and agribusinesses (to learn) what is threat ening their liveli hood,” he said. Besides working on biofuel possibilities, Welsh also plans to focus on direct marketing and other cooperative incentives for fanners. The York Ag Alli ance consists of a group of farmers, ag agencies, and agribu sinesses working with the YCEDC to en hance the local ag economy and “pre serve the farmer,” ac cording to spokesman Tony Dobrosky. Two steering com mittees formed out of the Alliance this year are guiding the ethanol and biodiesel initiatives. Dan Wolf, a Stewartstown-area corn grower, heads the six-member ethanol committee. According to Wolf, the larger scope of the ethanol project would involve forming a com producer’s cooperative with members pledg ing a portion of each year’s crop to ethanol production. YCEDC President Carver said that the “high-technology co operative” would be supervised by farmers, with some investments coming from other sources. A reasonable goal for such a cooperative would be to provide dividends to corn pro ducers of $.30 per bushel above the going market rate, Wolf said. Bill Myers, a Pio neer Seeds sales repre sentative from Hanover, heads the soybean biodiesel steering committee. (Turn to Page A 44)