| If farmers were gamblers, then growing sugar cane to produce ethanol in
the Imperial Valley might be a pretty good bet.
Thats the risk several local farmers are proposing to take as they
test sugar cane harvests and make plans to add ethanol production
facilities to the Holly Sugar plant in rural Brawley.
Craig Elmore, Larry Fleming and Carson Kalin, who co-own Brawley-based
Imperial Bioresources LLC, say the companys sugar cane tests in the
Imperial Valley over the last three years show extraordinarily high yields
and record sugar content.
The sugar cane will be processed at the Holly plant into several
products, but the main one is ethanol.
Ethanols importance
California has a future as a large market for ethanol, according to a
report in March by the California Energy Commission.
Ethanol is a replacement for the gasoline additive methyl tertiary
butyl ethers, commonly known as MTBE.
MTBE is a crude oil by-product that has been used to reduce carbon
monoxide in gasoline. But MTBE has been found to pollute groundwater, in
which it causes a turpentine-like taste and smell.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reports people
have complained about MTBE causing nausea, dizziness, headaches and eye,
nose and throat irritation.
MTBE is being phased out by the federal government starting in 2003.
Based on the phase-out, the energy commission estimates ethanol demand
in 2003 will range from 580 million to 715 million gallons per year.
Only 6 to 10 million gallons of ethanol is being produced in
California, Elmore said.
California already consumes 100 million gallons of ethanol a
year, he said. This facility will produce 20 to 30 million gallons
of ethanol a year.
And that will be expandable, Fleming added.
The commission points out the demand for ethanol may be risky because
it depends on fuel policy regulations.
Also, the commission warns that other areas of the country may demand
more ethanol, possibly leaving California unable to get enough of it at a
reasonable cost.
How the Valley benefits
At the beginning of 2001, California had four sugar beet-processing
plants. Now there are two.
Plants in Tracy and Woodland were closed because costs were too high
and sugar prices were too low, Elmore said.
The price of sugar has been down in the last several years because of
oversupply, Holly Sugar District Manager Bill Stewart said.
Fleming, Kalin and Elmore will keep growing beets since the sugar cane
and sugar beet seasons complement each other.
This makes beets stay here, Kalin said, referring to the
cane-to-ethanol project.
Growing sugar cane in the Valley helps other crops in the county.
All of the crops we grow here in the Valley are in chronic
oversupply, Fleming said.
If farmers used 20,000 acres for cane, other crops such as alfalfa
would benefit because those supplies would be lowered, Elmore said.
Employees at the sugar plant also would benefit.
Imperial County has high unemployment that seasonally can reach among
the top in the nation, an Imperial Bioresources project plan states.
About 300 people work at the sugar plant during the beet season. Only
103 people are employed there year-round, Holly Sugar plant union
president Abel Aguirre said.
Once workers become full-time, theyll have access to employee
benefits such as health care. They wont need to collect unemployment or
work other part-time jobs the rest of the year, Aguirre said.
He said ethanol production should add about 100 more jobs to the plant.
Total jobs at the plant would be about 400, bringing the plant up to the
employment levels of four years ago.
There are safety concerns, he said. Ethanol is an explosive so
additional training would be needed.
Well start processing cane in November 2004, Elmore said.
Well need all that time between then and now to make modifications
and expand the plant.
Fleming estimates the costs to make changes to the plant will run well
over $100 million and could approach $200 million.
All the changes will take place while sugar beet-processing continues
at Holly.
People in the factory are really excited about this, Aguirre
said. Ethanol is something thats going to stay here a long time.
Workers at the plant thought the idea of growing sugar cane was not
going to work because its a tropical crop, Aguirre said. But the trials
show it grows here, he said.
What the trials show
Imperial Bioresources farmers compared their harvest results to sugar
cane harvests in Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
Harvests in the Valley were 50 percent higher in tonnage and 50 percent
higher in sugar content, Elmore said.
According to a draft report from the University of California, the
ideal sugar cane growing climate is:
- A long, warm summer growing season with adequate rainfall (or
irrigation),
- Sunny and cool but frost-free, ripening and harvest season,
- Climate without typhoons and hurricanes,
The Oct. 8 draft report on the economic feasibility of sugar
cane-to-ethanol operations in the Imperial Valley was conducted by Michael
J. Bazdarich, director of the UC Riverside Forecasting Center, and Paul G.
Sebesta, director of the Desert Research and Extension Center in
Holtville.
Cane grows so well here because it loves sunlight and loves
water, Elmore said. We got sunlight and we can control the water.
The report lists the following factors that contribute to the higher
cane yields in the Valley:
- A longer growing season,
- More favorable temperatures during the growing season,
- Higher solar radiation levels during the high-growth periods,
- Better control of water compared to random rainfall elsewhere.
Another secret to Imperial Valley farmers success with sugar
percentage is the soil, Elmore said.
At a certain point, growers want the plant to stop growing and store
sugar. Plants in others areas of the U.S. keep trying to grow, Fleming
said.
Because local farmers can control the soil and water, they can control
when the plant will start storing sugar, he said.
Their soil is richer, but its a double-edged sword for them,
Kalin said, referring to soil in Florida and Louisiana.
Diverse byproducts
The Imperial Bioresources farmers say part of the beauty of this
project is its flexibility.
They do not have to depend exclusively on sugar cane to produce
ethanol. Sugar beets and corn have enough sugar and starch to produce
ethanol.
Valley farmers import corn each year as feed cattle. The Bioresources
farmers intend to divert some of that corn to ethanol production, then
turn it back to cattle feed.
Processing corn actually makes it more nutritious, Fleming said. The
corn increases in protein from 8 to 15 percent with processing.
There is a high demand for new sources of electricity in California.
The Holly plant will generate its own electricity and sell surplus to the
states power grid.
Besides producing ethanol and electricity, the sugar plant will still
be refining sugar.
The Imperial Bioresources project plan states multiple products such as
ethanol, refined sugar, electricity and cattle feed give the project
flexibility.
The plan states the concept is economically resilient because it does
not depend on the market demands of any one product.
A resiliency that gives the Imperial Bioresources farmers pretty decent
odds.
Staff Writer Laura Mitchell can be reached at 337-3452 or la_mitchel1@yahoo.com. |