Iowa FFA Essay Contest Winner Announced

Becca Siemens of Buffalo Center, Iowa, has been named the Iowa winner of the 2009 GROWMARK essay contest for FFA members. The theme of this year’s contest was “Homegrown Fuels: Good for American Agriculture.”

Siemens is a student at North Iowa Community School and a member of the Bison FFA chapter. Her FFA advisor is Dean Gerzema.

As the contest winner, Siemens will receive a $500 scholarship from GROWMARK at the Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference, held in Ames during April. The Bison FFA chapter will also receive a $300 award in honor of her accomplishment to help future students.

Four state runners-up will each receive a $125 scholarship. The runners-up and their FFA chapters are: Emily Hansen, Earlham FFA; Josh Rohn, Linn-Mar FFA; Marcus Samson, Diamond Trail FFA, and Josh Schade, North-Linn FFA.

Students were asked to describe renewable homegrown fuels made with agricultural commodities and the benefits they provide.

This is the sixteenth year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders, to help young people develop their writing skills, learn about current issues in agriculture, and understand the unique role of cooperatives.

Siemens's winning essay is below:

Homegrown Fuels are Good for America and Agriculture

Imagine a world where our cars, planes and homes are fueled by renewable resources, but not just any renewable resource, the “Perfect Resource.” We have the potential of producing one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels available to the world, and it’s right underneath our feet. The truth is, we’ve been growing it for hundreds of years! Now is the time to put it into action: locally, nationally, and across the world. Ethanol and biodiesel, made respectively from corn oil and soybean oil, may be the answer to the prolonged question of how to cleanly fuel our world.

Soy biodiesel is currently the most widely tested and used biodiesel in the United States. Biodiesel contains no petroleum although it may be mixed with petroleum to produce a desired blend. It is nontoxic and is biodegradable, making it a huge environmental, “yes.”

To illustrate just how big of a difference using soybean oil in a biodiesel fuel could really make, picture this fact quoted from Frontier FS Cooperative: “If only 1% of all diesel fuel used in America was replaced with soy biodiesel fuel, it would amount to 600 million gallons of fuel that we would no longer have to purchase abroad. We need to get the word out about this product. It not only supports our economy but also is an environmentally sound alternative fuel choice.” Now that’s a big difference, and the opportunity is right here!

Ethanol is stretching its potentials too. Ethanol’s market share is now 78% of Iowa fuel. A recent study states that just blending ethanol with gasoline saves the consumer 45 cents at the pump, and with Iowans buying over 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol blends in 2007 alone, that makes a huge impact. Not only does it directly save us money here at home, but it saves us money through oil imports. Using homegrown ethanol reduces U.S. oil imports by 9 billion gallons.

With new technologies in the ethanol industry, and increasing usage across the nation, the ethanol industry has resulted in more than 47,000 new jobs in Iowa. This not only benefits those receiving the jobs, but it boosts the economy of thousands of rural communities across the state. More employment opportunities mean a larger population of people to help support our schools, small businesses, and other assets in our small towns.

But ethanol has more than just the economy going for it; the positive environmental status of ethanol is another benefit. By using E85, we can reduce ozone-forming pollution by 20%, fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 30%, and the release of other toxic chemicals into the environment. Another important factor, which isn’t often thought of in the production of fuels is water usage. It takes 33% less water to produce a gallon of ethanol over a gallon of gasoline. For a more visual example, a typical 40 million gallon ethanol plant uses the same amount of water daily as an 18 hole golf course.

Homegrown fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol, are becoming a more popular alternative choice for fueling our lives everyday. The word is out, and people are catching on. Even big events, like the Indy 500 are promoting these fuels. Indy car drivers burn 100% ethanol in their engines, and can’t say enough about the performance it provides, even at 220 miles per hour, and that’s something nobody can argue with.

Homegrown fuels have provided so much opportunity locally and nationally. Living on a farm in “Small Town”, Iowa, I have learned to understand the importance and potential of these alternative fuels. The facts are there, now all we have to do is show it, and maybe someday our world will be powered by that “Perfect Alternative Fuel:” the one right beneath our feet.