The view back home

I was back home for the weekend. This is what "back home" looks like out the front window of the farm house near Bertrand, Neb. My wife is walking the dog on a hot summer day, with a backdrop of field corn that stretches for miles.

All of that ties in nicely to this link about ethanol provided by Big Apple on our Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Board. From the AP story:

An FPL Group subsidiary says it will develop a first−of−its−kind commercial plant to convert orange and grapefruit waste into ethanol that will be sold to Florida motorists at gasoline pumps "Currently, there is no ethanol production in Florida," said David Stewart, president of Boca Raton−based Citrus Energy LLC, a partner in the development of the FPL Energy ethanol plant. "This is the first in the world for citrus." State Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said the proposed facility is one of several now being discussed to move Florida from the sidelines of ethanol production to the forefront of developing more efficient ways of making the alternative fuel. The FPL plant is expected to produce about four million gallons of ethanol a year to be sold as a gasoline additive in Florida. The plan is to build it in Hendry County, an agricultural region just south of Lake Okeechobee. FPL Energy is a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc., which also operates the state's largest utility, Florida Power & Light Co.


TK: Converting citrus waste to ethanol will allow that growers in Florida to capture some of the dollars that have flowed toward corn growers in Nebraska and other Midwest states. The citrus groves are definitely closer to population centers, which is a positive for its long term prospects. Our discussion board continues to be a great forum for ideas and news angles related to produce, and thanks to Big Apple for this link.