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To: Think4Yourself who wrote (78148)	1/17/2007 11:41:13 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206334

Biofuels set to be the major theme in global agricultural markets in 2007, driving more investment money into these underweighted commodity sectors. As countries look to cut their dependence on traditional oil-based fuels, slow global warming and break their reliance on crude from the Middle East, new biofuel factories will come on stream around the world this year, producing alternative fuels using sugar, corn, rapeseed and palm oil. "The development of biofuels is certainly one of the key elements in the evolution of agriculture in recent decades," French analyst Agritel said. "Make no mistake, the consequences of this sector will be extremely important." But analysts say many question marks hang over the fledgling industry. Will the extra demand on crops for fuel put their traditional food use in jeopardy? Will sugar-derived ethanol or oilseed-based biodiesel prove to be most cost-efficient or are new technologies using biomass likely to win the day? Is the sector developing too fast? What will the environmental impact be? What happens if crude oil prices continue to fall? And how will it be regulated? These are some of the questions to be tackled by industry leaders and policy makers at the Reuters Global Biofuel Summit, taking place in Asia, Europe and the Americas on January 16-17. Speakers will include CEOs from major biofuel companies in Asia, Europe, the United States and Brazil as well as officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Chicago Board of Trade and the European Commission. Biofuels have already helped drive U.S. corn prices to 10-year highs as funds bet on higher ethanol use and low stocks, whereas in Europe biodiesel demand is pushing oilseed production to record levels. CBOT corn for March hit the 20-cent limit-up allowed on Friday, closing at $3.96-1/2 per bushel. The U.S. Agriculture Department has reduced the 2006 domestic corn production figure to 10.535 billion bushels from 10.745 billion last month, a lower figure than expected. "It's an eye-opener, with world ending stocks of corn going to a record low and aggressive use in exports and ethanol," said Joe Victor, vice-president of marketing at Allendale Inc. Ethanol distillers are expected to use 2.15 billion bushels, or 20 percent, of the 2006 corn crop in making the alternative fuel, and the total might reach 3.1 billion bushels of the 2007 crop. In Europe, funds are also moving into agricultural markets. Euronext's commodity products chalked up a fifth annual volume record in 2006 of 9.85 million contracts, breaking the previous record by over 1.3 million contracts. And Euronext will launch new rapeseed oil futures and options contracts on January 22 to help the biofuel sector manage price risk, another key theme for the industry this year. today.reuters.com

To: Think4Yourself who wrote (78148)	1/17/2007 12:07:13 PM
From: whitepine	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 206334

Global warming is your fault. It's my fault. It's the fault of everyone reading this. Saying it's political is people's way of passing the buck and trying to deflect blame OK...real simple. Read Sound and Fury: The Science and Politics of Global Warming by Patrick J. Michaels (1992) to learn how the issue of GW has been POLITICAL for a long time. Then, perhaps you might take a gander at........... Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media by Patrick J. Michaels Finally, read how junk science tried to debunk the empiricism of Bjorn Lomborg and how a cabal 'colleagues' tried to discredit him because they did not like his conclusions. ================================== We have reviewed this topic in the past. GW? Over what time frame? Always caused by man? Junk science with selective discrimination of data.