Some New England residents are turning to soybeans for heat. It is called bio-heat, and growers say it has become a solid market.
“It’s caught on well, very, very popular. People love it, and there’s a whole industry developed around it now, about what modifications and so forth are done to the heating plants of furnaces, if you will, the boilers, and so it’s pretty neat, and it’s become a nice demand center for our soybean oil. It burns cleaner. It has fewer carbon deposits. It has a lot easier maintenance. It has natural lubricity, which of course, when we took sulfur out of our petroleum-based products, we lost a lot of lubricity, so there’s a lot of built-in advantages and that’s what they like about it,” said Andy Bensend, District One Director, Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board.
Bensend says it has been a gradual process. First, homeowners turned to fuels like bio-diesel over traditional heating oil, and from there, bio-heat took off.
USDA headquarters downsizing reflects cost pressures and may reshape agency operations.
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Farm Bureau economist Danny Munch explains the importance of timely enrollment, and how the program helps dairy producers safeguard their operations against volatile milk markets.
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USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance payments could begin this weekend as producers face tight margins, shifting acreage expectations, cattle herd contraction, and growing pressure for a stronger farm safety net.
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Delays on year-round E15 keep potential corn demand and fuel savings in limbo.
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