The Reality of Biodiesel Production

Lyle from the Energy Blog posted a long, interesting piece about the reality of producing biodiesel, comparing the situations of large-scale producers vs. the small-scale, backyard types:

"If you are World Energy, the country's largest player in selling biodiesel, you drop your head into the trough of the Commodity Credit Corporation, and wait for Congress to pass farm bills that provide a decent subsidy for every incremental gallon you produce."

...

"If you are a Soy Grower's Co-op in eastern North Carolina, you brag about being subsidy free. I was once at a meeting of the Triangle Clean Cities Coalition in which the Soy Growers were confident about how market dependent they were. The Chicago Futures market sets the price of soy, plain and simple. Apparently there is now a connection between the price of soy and the price of biodiesel. Halleluiah."