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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill on the Hill who wrote (3290)	12/2/2005 5:45:35 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24213

US Fertilizer prices sky high! Glen Jones, Texas Farm Bureau The U.S. is the world's second largest nitrogen producer after China. Currently, the U.S. has capacity to produce slightly more than 20 million metric tons of ammonia, which is used as a fertilizer and as a building block for other nitrogen products. During the past year, fertilizer prices have risen dramatically. Prices have increased due to increased energy costs for production (especially natural gas), increased transportation costs, and increased demand. As natural gas prices have risen in the U.S., the cost of producing anhydrous ammonia has increased to the point that much of the U.S. production capacity has been closed. This is because the value of natural gas is greater for other uses...i.e. home heating and electrical power generation, than for nitrogen fertilizer production. Natural gas is the fundamental ingredient, for which there is no practical substitute, and the major cost component of making all basic nitrogen fertilizer products. The cost of natural gas represents 70 to 90 percent of the production cost of one ton of anhydrous ammonia nitrogen fertilizer. The United States needs significantly greater supplies of natural gas for nitrogen fertilizer production to meet critical agriculture and food production needs. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, fertilizer costs are up 30.8 percent in 2005 from 2003. In Central Texas, farmers paid $290-$300 per ton for anhydrous ammonia in 2004, $390-$415 per ton in 2005 before the hurricanes, and it got as high as $480 per ton after the hurricanes. Prices have decreased some in November to around $460 per ton. ... The U.S. does remain the world's largest exporter of phosphate, exporting about 5.5 million tons in 2004, with China (mainland) being our biggest customer. Domestic use of phosphate has remained steady at just under 5 million tons per year. The U.S. exported 9.4 million tons of fertilizer in 2004, which is down about 2 million tons from 2003. Glen Jones is the Director of Research, Education & Policy Development at TFB. (2 December 2005) energybulletin.net

To: Bill on the Hill who wrote (3290)	12/2/2005 5:46:41 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24213

Hybrid tractor prototype Farmonline.com (Aus.) Case IH reportedly has developed a tractor that is powered by a diesel engine and a transmission that incorporates two 50kW (67hp) electric motor/generators. Still in the developmental stage, the ProHybrid EECVT is based on a Case MXM tractor and uses technology from the Steyr continuously variable transmission (CVT) now used in Case IH's CVX tractors. While a standard CVT combines mechanical and hydraulic drives to initiate stepless ratio changes, the new hybrid system introduces electrical power into the driveline (in place of oil pumps and motors) but retains the mechanical aspects of the more conventional setup. Similar to a standard CVT, the system uses a greater proportion of mechanical drive as speed increases. Pumping out a maximum of 160hp, the diesel engine provides the power for both the mechanical drive and the electrical system. Excess energy that would otherwise be wasted is stored in a large battery that sits on the tractor's nose in place of front weights. (25 November 2005) energybulletin.net