Archive for March, 2010

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Soybean Farmers Reducing Energy Use

Monday, March 29th, 2010

A new, peer-reviewed life cycle analysis (LCA) funded by the United Soybean Board is shedding some light on energy use on soybean farms.

The LCA measured inputs for farm tractor diesel and gasoline, electricity and natural gas usage, and calculated total fuel energy of 1800 MJ per 1000 kg of soybeans. That may not signify much for the casual observer, but that number demonstrates approximately 20 percent less direct energy used on the farm compared to numbers calculated in 1998.

The LCA also showed that soybean crushing facilities have reduced their energy consumption by 45 percent since 1998.

Add to that the data from the Keystone Field to Market Report that showed soybean energy use decreasing by 61 percent since 1987, and there’s mounting evidence that U.S. soybean farmers are becoming much more energy efficient.

Any thoughts on how they’re doing it?

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Dispelling the Myths: Facts About Biotech and Sustainability

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Concerned about biotech and sustainability? Check out some myths and facts:

Myth: Biotech Is Inherently Unsafe

Fact: Consumers worldwide have been eating biotech crops in some form or other since 1997 without any sign that they have caused any health or safety problems, according to a European Commission report.

Myth: Biotech Crops Threaten Organic Farmers

Fact: Experience shows that organic and biotech farming can both thrive in the same place. The “organic‟ label identifies only a system of farming, not what is present or absent from produce. A July 2009 study by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) which compared biotech, conventional and organic soybean production systems in terms of sustainability concluded that all three systems were environmentally sustainable and could be managed for profit – assuming that appropriate market incentives existed for each system.

Myth: Biotech Threatens Biodiversity

Fact: Out-crossing and herbicide resistance are well-understood crop management problems that have occurred long before biotechnology was developed. There is no evidence that biotech crops are, or will be, any less manageable than their conventional counterparts. As a group of scientists at Britain‘s respected John Innes Centre concluded in a paper on the environmental impact of biotech crops (Dale, 2002), ―we can find no compelling scientific arguments to demonstrate that biotech crops are innately different from non-biotech crops.

Check out more myths and facts by clicking here.

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Posted in Agriculture, Biotech, Sustainability | 2 Comments »

New Life Cycle Analysis Calculates CO2 Taken Up by Soybean Plants

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Each bushel of soybeans harvested in the U.S. reduces greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents) by 36.8 kg, says a new life cycle analysis (LCA) conducted by the United Soybean Board.

The LCA evaluated the carbon taken up by the plant based on the quantity of biomass. During the growing phase, soybeans take up approximately 42.5 kg of CO2 per bushel. This value is taken from the current U.S. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database, which has a mass carbon balance for growing soybeans.

The net CO2 capture value for growing soybeans is 36.8 kg CO2 per bushel, since some fossil CO2 is emitted during the cultivation and harvesting of the beans.

Keep in mind that this is the carbon captured in the soybean, not sequestered in the soil, so the CO2 reduction value passes through to the next link in the value chain when soybeans are used as a raw material.

The new LCA containing this data is now available to be placed into the U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database, which is managed by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and other databases where life cycle practitioners can access them to perform their assessments on products made with a soy-derived feedstock.

In future posts, we’ll take a closer look at the carbon captured in each kg of soy oil or soy meal.

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Soy Biodiesel: More Energy Out Than In

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

A 2009 United States Department of Agriculture study titled the “Energy Life-Cycle Assessment of Soybean Biodiesel” found that soy biodiesel yields about four times more net energy than the fossil fuel required to produce it. That fossil energy ratio (FER), which is defined as “the ratio of the energy output of the final biofuel product to the fossil energy required to produce the biofuel,” is expected to increase to 4.69 by 2015 as soybean yields continue to increase, according to the USDA. To read the full report click here.

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New Report Brings Up Old Feelings

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

The first three months of 2010 has brought several things including questionable progress on New Year’s resolutions, a new college football champion and a new season of “American Idol” under full swing. 2010 has also brought a new way of looking at genetically modified (GM) crops. A recent statement by the British government’s chief scientific advisor, John Beddington, calls for the acceptance of GM crops in an attempt to reduce hunger across the globe.

Until now most of the United Kingdom and the European Union have long been against the use of GM crops for fear of cross-contamination in the fields, uncertainties about food safety and the possibility of inconsistent crop production. Beddington’s statement has GM opponents in the UK up-in-arms, but with hunger on the rise, government leaders are starting to consider the benefits of GM crops.

It’s likely that this issue will continue to come up in the UK and could possibly affect the way that other countries around the world look at GM foods.

Here’s another article covering a second UK scientist, Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development at Imperial College London, who asks people to take another look at GM crops.

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