Pennsylvania’s recent biodiesel mandate took effect Jan. 15 of this year, but it’s still uncertain what it will mean for local farmers across the state, including dairy farmers in Centre County.

The Biodiesel & Ethanol Incentives Mandate calls for all diesel fuel sold within the state to contain a minimum of two percent biodiesel per gallon. The biodiesel will be created from in-state production facilities and help create a renewable fuel source that will rely on raw commodities from Pennsylvania’s farms, according to a National Biodiesel Board press release.

While the legislation has had many favorable responses, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) director Brian Snyder thinks that the legislation is addressing the wrong issue.

“We can’t solve the energy or climate problems just by replacing imported oil with domestically produced product,” he said. “We must simply use less of either, much less.”

Using large amounts of soybeans, and the land they grow on, for biodiesel instead of food raises concerns that food prices will jump.

Ethanol, a fuel source that in the United States relies on corn, has been responsible for a 10 to 15 percent increase in food costs in the past year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. About one-fourth of corn grown in the United States is being used to create ethanol, thus creating a smaller supply of corn for consumption, the CBO reported last month.

But other local experts support the mandate, saying it is a practical first step to reducing fuel’s impact on the environment.

Agricultural Sciences professor Greg Roth said that the mandate is an important step for many reasons, including reducing dependency on foreign oil, improving emissions standards and encouraging our state’s farms.

As far as fuel quality is concerned, biodiesel tends to be somewhat variable depending on the stocks used to create it (approximately 11 percent less efficient than standard diesel in term of miles per gallon), according to the National Energy Information Center’s Web site. However, the mandate calls for all biodiesel additives used in retail fuel to be held to American Society for Testing and Materials standards, Roth said. This ensures that the biodiesel being used as an additive will be a quality fuel.

He said that Pennsylvania currently has biodiesel factories operating at less than full capacity because the state has not authorized extra subsidies for Pennsylvania growers. The mandate will change that.

One potential negative effect of the legislation is an increase in the cost of soy-based cattle feed for dairy farmers throughout the area, but Roth said that the percentage of biodiesel being introduced is small enough that the state government could cut production if farmers and other industries find themselves competing heavily over the soybean supply.

“Biodiesel in our situation is beneficial to the farming community, rather than competitive,” said Roth.

In fact, farmers seem to agree, whether they are growing feed or raising cattle, since it creates an incentive for growing in-state commodities like soybeans.

Rodney Musser, of Musser Dairy in Bellefonte said the mandate has had little effect on him personally since his cattle are primarily grass fed.

He said his concern as a farmer, however, is whether or not the state legislation requires soybean manufacturers to take the Pennsylvania raw product first. In other words, Musser is concerned about supporting Pennsylvania farmers first, but thinks that those farmers may not be able to keep up with the demand.

“If they’re trying to pump up local production at the farm level and keep these guys in business I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “[But I think] they’ll have to bring in some product from out of state to keep [the process] economically viable all year.”

Musser said he is concerned that the growing season in Pennsylvania (from mid-April to mid-September approximately) is not long enough for the production centers to accept only in-state raw material for biodiesel production.

Researchers at Penn State Harrisburg, however, are developing a biodiesel alternative that specifically addresses that problem.

According to a recent report by the Harrisburg Patriot-News, a research team is working to develop strains of a tropical plant called jatropha that can withstand Pennsylvania’s colder temperatures.

This oily plant is capable of producing more biodiesel than corn or soybeans, and will cut costs on the extraction process, according to the article. Biology professor Sairam Rudrabhatla and his team at Penn state Harrisburg are introducing a cold-tolerant gene to allow it to grow in Pennsylvania’s climate with hope that these plants will heighten biodiesel productivity from state farms, and in turn allow farmers to net a higher profit.

It may be a while before jatropha can be introduced in the state’s fields however, and until then soybeans will be the primary source for biodiesel. It is still unclear if in-state soybean growers will be able to produce enough stock to keep biodiesel extraction centers running without turning to out- of-state soybean growers.

The legislation also encourages in-state extraction centers, to make sure the entire process benefits the state.

This issue came up before the legislation was proposed, mainly due to the fact that previously, soybeans grown in Pennsylvania were being trucked to Ohio to be converted into soybean oil and soybean meal (a byproduct of soybean oil used in feed). After the extraction process, the products were often shipped back to Pennsylvania, Roth said.

Farmers and some state legislators had the idea to cut out the middle man, and perform the extraction process in state, using raw material grown in state, he said. Out of a stock of raw soybeans, 20 percent goes to making oil for biodiesel production while the other 80 percent goes to creating soybean meal, which can be used by farmers like Jeff Biddle.

Biddle, of Bear Meadows farm in Boalsburg, raises his cattle on mixed grains, but he doesn’t think it will have much effect on his profit. He said because soybeans are a commodity like other bases in cattle feed, he watches the Chicago Board of Trade (which compares prices of agricultural commodities) to examine the prices of each material and determine how much of each product he buys.

“If soybeans are high, I have a nutritionist that will suggest other items we can put in the feed for protein,” Biddle said. “We sometimes use cottonseed as a supplement protein.”

It’s this art of substitution that Biddle thinks will help him deal with the increased demand for soybeans.

“I try to mix other commodities in to find a balance that allows me to make sure the commodity that I sell, milk, is still higher than what I pay for feed,” he said.

PASA’s Snyder said dairy farmers should be feeding their cows grass instead of soy anyway, which would eliminate the feed cost issue altogether.

Roth said he thinks it’s unlikely that the demand for soybeans will cause feed prices to go through the roof, because it will not be the only stock being used for biodiesel production. Fats of other materials, such as excess from the poultry industry and used vegetable oil from restaurants will likely be other sources for raw material bound for the biodiesel plants.

The mandate also leaves room for developing biodiesel technologies such as renewable diesel.

Renewable diesel will probably not require the use of soybean oil at all but will rely primarily on vegetable feed stock, said Roth. The process is similar to processes used at standard diesel refineries and should allow for a final product that is consistent and as Roth said, “indistinguishable from petroleum based diesel.”

Other processes in development might be able to use yard waste and wood chips to make biodiesels, said Roth.

In response to the concerns of higher food prices due to biodiesel production, Roth said the state is starting with a two percent mandatory biodiesel additive, so that any adverse affects on the food economy can be monitored and responded to accordingly.

“A two percent biodiesel additive is a good place to start, because it reduces emissions, and will increase the lubricity of the fuel, but it’s also conservative enough to hopefully eliminate any negative effects with other industries, especially those using soybean oil,” Roth said.