Indiana Corn Marketing grant to encourage E85 pumps<br>

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — More E85 pumps at fuel stations across the state is the goal of a new corn checkoff-funded program offered by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC). The new grant program is designed to help fuel retailers with the cost of converting existing fuel storage tanks to hold E85 (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) that can offer consumers a cleaner choice at the pump.<br>
Fuel retailers in Indiana are eligible for grants up to $5,000 for the cleaning of fuel storage tanks prior to the introduction of E85 blended fuel. This grant is in addition to the grant offered by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture for the purchase of new E85 refueling equipment or existing pump conversion.<br>
Eligible licensed fuel retailers must be willing to commit to selling and actively promoting E85 for a period of two years.<br>
According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, 31 new models of motor vehicles will be offered with an E85 capable engine in 2008. With these additions, there are more than 175 models of Flex Fuel Vehicles available to consumers.<br>
For more information about eligibility requirements and to obtain a grant application, fuel retailers should contact Mark Walters, ICMC biofuels director, at 317-347-3620 or by e-mail at mwalters@ indianacorn.org
The application can also be found online at www.incorn.org<br>
Pioneer to expand production at Nebraska seed plant<br>
YORK, Neb. (AP) — DuPont says its Pioneer Hi-Bred subsidiary will spend $13 million to boost production capacity 20 percent at its York seed corn plant.<br>
A DuPont news release said Pioneer will add a fifth dryer and expand storage. Both projects will be finished in time to handle this year’s harvest, DuPont said.<br>
Pioneer Hi-Bred International is based in Johnston, Iowa; DuPont is based in Wilmington, Del. It was unclear Thursday whether the expansion would create any new jobs at the plant. A DuPont spokesman said he couldn’t immediately answer questions about staffing.<br>
Deere CEO gets $14.8M in fiscal 2007 compensation<br>
CHICAGO (AP) — Deere & Co. CEO Robert W. Lane received compensation the company valued at $14.77 million during the 2007 fiscal year, according to a regulatory filing.<br>
The compensation was detailed in the Moline-based company’s proxy filing for the 12 months ending Oct. 31 — a period that saw the farm equipment maker grow its profit by eight percent.
Lane, 58, who is also Deere’s president and chairman, was paid a salary of $1,306,280. The bulk of his pay package came from $6,393,070 in non-equity incentives and stock and options valued at $6,568,917 at the time they were awarded.<br>
Lane also received $122,031 in above-market returns on deferred compensation, and other compensation of $381,086. That figure included about $325,000 for personal use of the company’s aircraft, $10,000 for medical exam and $9,000 for other perks, including company-provided car washes and drive-by home security surveillance by the company’s corporate security staff.<br>
Deere, which also makes construction and forestry equipment such as backhoes, excavators, riding mowers and leaf blowers, earned $1.82 billion, or $8.01 per share, in fiscal 2007, up from $1.69 billion, or $7.18 per share, a year earlier. Full-year sales grew to $24.1 billion, up 9 percent from $22.1 billion.<br>
Australian co. buys Illinois wind power projects, five others
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Australian investment and asset management company Babcock & Brown Ltd. said it has acquired seven wind farm projects in the United States, including one in central and another in northern Illinois.<br>
The projects were acquired from Gamesa Energy USA, a division of Madrid, Spain-based Gamesa Energia S.A. and Navitas Energy Inc., a Minneapolis-based company largely owned by Gamesa.<br>
The wind projects are located in Woodford and Stephenson counties in Illinois, Pocahontas County in Iowa, Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, Brookings County in South Dakota and Logan County in Ohio. They total 750 megawatts, enough to power more than 190,000 homes per year.<br>
“These future wind farms are ideal additions to Babcock & Brown’s near-term development pipeline because they are located in markets in which we are focused, and they are also located near areas where we have existing wind farms,” said Hunter Armistead, head of Babcock & Brown’s North American Energy Development Group.<br>
“We look forward to developing these projects and bringing them online in the near future, further adding to the production of clean and renewable wind energy in the Midwest.”<br>
Babcock & Brown has more than 3,000 megawatts of wind energy under development primarily in the U.S. and Europe. Babcock & Brown Wind Partners, focused on wind generation, has a portfolio of interests in 35 wind farms on three continents with installed capacity of about 1,700 megawatts.