From Tobacco to Soy for Biodiesel
11 December 2004
Newsobserver. North Carolina’s Golden LEAF Foundation has committed $5 million to a soy biodiesel plant planned to be online by the end of 2005. The Golden LEAF Foundation was created to distribute half of the state’s $70 million a year tobacco settlement money to tobacco-dependent communities.
Repurposing tobacco farms to soy for biodiesel seems like a good idea. The Southeast is pretty wide open—apparently the only current major producer is in Florida.
I wonder if soybeans is one of those crops that requires a disproportionate amount of petroleum-based fertilizer in order to grow competitively, and how it compares to tobacco?
Posted by: owen | 15 December 2004 at 09:15 AM