By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

LEBANON, Ind. — It’s been to nine county fairs, had more than 15,000 visitors and rolled nearly 5,000 miles.

The Indiana Soybean Alliance’s (ISA) promotional biofuel trailer has been a success ever since it was taken on the road May 20, and had over 9,000 visitors at the Indiana State Fair alone. The Sept. 4-6 Farm World Expo in Lebanon marked the 24th stop for the trailer and according to ISA’s Fred Henderson, it will probably keep rolling for many months to come.

“We’ve had very good response,” he said “Out of the 15,000 people who have come through, there’s probably only been a dozen or so who have been anti-ethanol.”

A former schoolteacher, Henderson is now an education consultant with the ISA and in charge of the trailer, or the Biofuels Mobile Learning Center, as it’s officially called. In the center, visitors can find literature on ethanol and biodiesel, and watch videos explaining the production process for both fuels.

“A lot of people don’t understand what the process is. I think this unit has been valuable in getting the correct information out,” said Henderson.

The center also boasts an interactive learning tool in the form of a mock-up biofuel pump, where visitors can find out if there are any E85 or biodiesel sources in their county.

On occasion, Henderson said visitors critical of biofuel have brought up the food-versus-fuel debate but, for the most part, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive.

“A lot of people have been telling me that ‘if fuel is going to cost this much, I’d rather spend the money here at home,’” he said.
Henderson pulls the trailer with a truck that runs on B20, a diesel mix containing 20 percent biodiesel. B20 is also the fuel of choice for the generator that powers the exhibit. “It’s clean burning,” he said, sticking his face up by the exhaust.

Next up for Henderson and the Biofuels Mobile Learning Center is a stop in Rush County and after that, the ethanol plant in Clymers, Ind. But he also brings the trailer to venues that aren’t related to agriculture.

“Where people are is where we’d like to be,” he explained. “The ag community is pretty much on board already.”

Organizations wanting to feature the exhibit at their events should go to ISA’s website at www.indianasoybean.com and click on “BioFuels Education” to get to the sign-up form. If the date is available, ISA will provide the display free of charge.

“I just booked one (venue) for next April, so if people are interested, they need to book early,” Henderson said.