  Secretary’s Column: As Conferees Convene, Priorities for a
Farm Bill    The Farm Bill’s importance extends beyond the farm
safety net.          One Response to “Secretary’s Column: As
Conferees Convene, Priorities for a Farm Bill”    1. Gregory
Howard Gebhart says:      Why isn’t the USDA pushing for more
lingano-cellulosic ethanol production and more E85 blending and
more flexfuel vehicle production? Ethanol and other biofuels
have one characteristic that fossil fuels do not: they
dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions compared to those
from fossil fuels by a process known as combustion recycling.
E90 reduces CO2 emissions by 10% over pure gasoline. It is now
cost effective to convert non-corn biomass into ethanol
($1.50/gallon of ethanol) using Celanese Corporation’s patented
TCX process. Prairie grasses like switch grass can be repeatedly
mowed and their cellulose converted into ethanol without
fertilizers and without damaging fragile land. Also oil will
only last another 50 to 75 years before it r