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Texas
Agriculture Archive
April 18, 2003
Land-based wind project is largest
in the world
MidAmerican Energy Company has announced plans to build 310
megawatts of wind energy generation facilities in Iowa, making it the
largest land-based wind project in the world.
MidAmerican also announced a plan to freeze its Iowa electric rates through 2010, while developing and constructing two other major generation projects already in progress. The $323 million wind project plus those two plants, the Greater Des Moines Energy Center (540 megawatts) in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, and the Council Bluffs Energy Center Unit 4 (790 megawatts), represent an investment of approximately $1.4 billion in Iowa by MidAmerican. The three projects' combined output will be 1,640 megawatts of new electric generation.
Information from the Department of Energy's National
Renewable Energy Laboratories shows Mid-American's new wind project will
be the largest land-based wind energy installation in the world. The project
will consist of 180 to 200 wind turbines, each generating approximately
1.5 to 1.65 megawatts. A site has yet to be selected, but the facilities
are expected to be located in the northwest or north-central portion of
the state. The project also will require investment in associated energy
transmission facilities. The first units are expected to come on-line
by the end of 2004, with project completion by the end of 2006.
Source: AFBF Executive Newswatch-MidAmerican
news release, March 26, 2003
Farmers plant more biotech crops
According to the U.S. Agriculture Department's "prospective
plantings" report, farmers will plant more biotech corn and soybeans
this spring.
Of the 79 million acres of corn planted in the United States this year, 38 percent will likely be biotech, USDA reported. That estimate is 4 percent higher than last year. With soybeans, 80 percent of the 73.2 million U.S. acres will probably be biotech, which is 5 percent higher than last spring, USDA said.
In order to gather information for the report, USDA asks
randomly selected farmers across the country what they intend to plant
during the upcoming growing season.
Source:
AFBF Executive Newswatch, March 31, 2003
AFBF exhibitor at Disney's
Epcot
The American Farm Bureau will be an exhibitor at Innoventions
at Epcot at Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., as a result of
Monsanto Company's donation of its Beautiful Science exhibit.
Farm Bureau plans to expand the breadth of the exhibit's
agriculture stories, giving a feel for what it is like to live and work
on an innovative farm.
Source: Doane's Agricultural Report, March 21,
2003
Global crop competition intensifies;
U.S. share falls
For crops, global competition has intensified. In 1953, the United States
harvested 1 in 5 hectares worldwide. By 2003, U.S. area fell to just 1 in
8 hectares. {Harvested area in million hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) per
February 2003 data}
Source: USDA/FAS; World Agricultural Production,
March 2003
