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Agro-Farming to Energy Farming
A Perspective on Green Energy from
the Red River Farm Network
The German Federal Foreign Office, through its embassies in Washington, DC and Ottawa, invited River Farm Network Farm Broadcaster Don Wick and nine other journalists from the United States and Canada to participate in a fact-finding mission to communicate on the role of green energy in German agriculture.
Thanks to the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, North Dakota Soybean Council, Minnesota Corn Growers Association and North Dakota Corn Growers Association for their sponsorship of this special focus on green energy.
 Erhard Thale is an organic farmer, who farms 2,000 acres of cropland near Ludwigsfelde. After three unprofitable years, Thale is making the switch to production of energy crops.
The Ludwigsfelde region has been named a Bioenergy Region for the development of best-practice innovative concepts in the usage of biomass crops.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR THIS 'GREEN ENERGY' REPORT.
During a visit to the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection, Deputy Director Dr. Hans Jurgen Froese highlighted Germany's renewable energy policy. By 2050, Germany has a goal of having 50 percent of its energy coming from renewable resources. Germany now imports 70 percent of its energy needs. The country is far removed from the oil fields of Russia or the Middle East, putting Germany's energy security at risk. For that reason, Germany is looking to its farmers to provide green energy.
Minnesota Soybean Farmers and the Soybean Checkoff
helped present this special focus on RRFN.
For more about soy-based biodiesel, listen to National Biodiesel Board Chairman Ed Heglund, a farmer from Appleton, Minnesota.
 The German government has an aggresive renewable fuels policy, but Frank Bruhning says the story isn't all rosy. Bruhning, who is a lobbyist with the German Federation of the Biofuel Industry, says the German biodiesel industry is producing 2.5 million tons per year. That's far below the capacity of 5 million metric tons. Frequent changes in the government's biofuel policy are blamed. In the United States, the ethanol and biodiesel industries were hampered by the food-versus-fuel debate. In Germany, it is the same issue, but they call it tank-versus-plate.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR THIS REPORT
Thanks to the North Dakota Corn Growers Association for their support of green energy!
ND Corn Growers Exec. Director Tom Lilja discusses the rollout of Blender Pumps in the state. Click to listen.
VERBIO Biofuel
In 2001, the VERBIO group built its first biodiesel plant. In 2004/2005, two more ethanol plants and a second biodiesel plant was put into operation. This German company is the only industrial-scale producer of biodiesel and ethanol in Europe. It's newest innovation, which goes online later this year, is a closed loop system. Farmers provide raw materials, like corn silage, to the plant. In turn, VERBIO produces biodiesel, ethanol and biogas. A byproduct of this production can be found in the form of crop nutrients, which returns to the farmer as fertilizer. Dr. Oliver Ludtke manages the VERBIO operations.
CLICK LINKS BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT VERBIO BIOFUEL.
VERBIO OVERVIEW AND VERBIO / FARMER RELATIONSHIPS
Thanks to the Minnesota Corn Growers Association for their sponsorship of RRFN's coverage of green energy in Germany. Remember, CORN IS THE NEW GREEN. Visit www.mncorn.org.
 The North Dakota Soybean Council promotes biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel. Producing biodiesel from soybeans reduces the US dependence on foriegn oil. For more information, visit www.ndsoybean.org.
Click to hear Hoon Ge's comments on biodiesel and North Dakota Soybean's role in it's continued development in our region.
 Germany imports 70 percent of its energy needs. With limited land resources, research is underway to maximize the energy output from agriculture. It may be rapeseed, rye, corn or even cattle manure. The Institute for Agricultural Engineering at Potsdam is researching biogas production. PhD student Alexander Schattauer is seeing tremendous interest in biogas for the electrical grid and for heating. At Leipzig, Dr. Bernd Krautkremmer is with the German Biomass Research Centre. Krautremmer says work is underway to develop a fully automated biogas station. "Most of the plants in Germany are linked to small agriculture farms and the farmers do not always understand how this process is operated; a control system might help them run the program more efficiently."
LISTEN TO THIS REPORT
Our group visited an agricultural training center in the German state of Hessen. This headquarters of this facility is a castle that dates back to 1512. In contrast, it is home to modern crop research plots, a robotic milking system for its dairy herd and a biogas plant.
LISTEN TO THIS REPORT
 
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Juhnde is Germany's bioenergy village.
CLICK TO LISTEN TO THESE RRFN REPORTS.
CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO HEAR MORE BROADCAST COVERAGE FROM THIS GERMAN STUDY MISSION.
DAIRY FARMER PERSPECTIVE
DECENTRALIZED PRODUCTION OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Our thanks to the German government and InWent--Capacity Building International for hosting this study mission for US and Canadian journalists. The participants included Don Wick of the Red River Farm Network; independent radio producer Sadie Babits; Neil Billinger of CJWW Radio of Saskatoon, SK; Meggie Foster of FarmWorld in Indiana; Jonathon Harsh of Agri-Pulse in Washington, DC; Dan Manternach of Doane Agricultural Services in St. Louis; Patrick Meagher of Eastern Ontario Farmers Forum; Bob Montgomery of Moose River Media in Vermont; Sally Scholle of Lee Publications in Pennsylvania and Tiffany Woods of Oregon's Agricultural Progress. Eva Daub of InWEnt was our host.
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