Sano Shimoda, president and founder of BioScience Securities, hosted the panel discussion Food, Fuel & Feed – Frontiers of Change, on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Panel members included, Dan Basse, founder and president of AgResource; Hugh Whaley, senior vice president of Osborn & Barr Communications; and Lyle Orwig, CEO of Charleston Orwig.

Kicking off the session, Basse talked about the global implications of ag saying that the talk of biofuels is everywhere. He says that the southeast Asia commodity demand is rising because they are using more soybean oil for food use. Global grain consumption is also moving up because of southeast Asia.

One significant controversy that was discussed was the food vs. fuel battle. Basse believes that “as the bio fuel revolution reaches it zenith in 3 to 5 years and we then get cellulistic, we’re going to have more of a contractual and less of a commodity world upon us.”  He adds, “That’s something all of us in the marketing business really need to ponder.” Whaley agrees, “There are a lot of different varieties that are in the market place that will help soybean producers, corn growers, etc., to be able to grow to where the market demand is taking that commodity.” However, Orwig say’s that, “We can’t let the debate go to one vs. the other, but we’ve got to move the debate to both.”

Where do these panel members see the future of corn for ethanol production? Is corn a temporary thing that we’re seeing now but may be replaced by cellulose? Yes, according to Basse. He believes that ethanol has a viable place in the marketplace. He says that it’s such a volatile fuel, that if we’re going to get beyond the idea of “let’s use 10 billion gallons” then we’re going to have to get to flex fuel cars and move towards E-85, which, he says, we’re not seeing much sponsorship from Detroit or the government to use those products. If we plan to produce any more than 10 billion gallons, Basse said he would be concerned.

For Basse, the relation between bio diesel and crude oil is much more important than corn. At the moment the bio diesel producer in the country is marginally profitable, so we must watch the crude oil price.

Orwig says that agriculture is at war with itself. When asked if it matters how important and effective groups like NCBA, NCGA, etc., can be, Orwig says yes, these groups can have a dramatic effect because of the internet. He says that it’s unfortunate because people take what’s on the internet as gospel, and small groups such as these can use the internet to make their points which can ultimately find it’s way to legislation.

Whaley says that organizations that would do battle with ag, that would try to influence the fact that certain aspects of ag are bad, have a total combined “war chest” of $1.3 billion annually to carry out scare tactics. And what does ag contribute to a “war chest” to defend itself? Not $1.3 billion. Whaley says that until we get our act together to combat the war with ourselves in the ag industry, then there will be a link between all those organizations out there that have an issue with production ag, and that want to drive it out of this country. He says unless we who are involved in ag stand up and defend it emotionally and not with science (because science over emotion never works); then we’ll continue to take a backseat and continue to get beat up in the media and the boardrooms across America.

Special thanks to Osborn & Barr for sponsoring this session.