Recent Public Presentations and Studies
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NEW: Fascinating Paper on Biofuels and Energy Security
"Twenty-First Century Snake Oil: Why the United States Should Reject Biofuels as Part of a Rational National Security Energy Strategy," by Capt T.A. Kiefer, USN
The paper set is available here NEW: NTF Turkey Outlook Presentation 2/14/2013
The slide set is available here
NEW: RFS Reform: Briefing for House and Senate Staff
The slide set is available here
NEW: Civil Unrest in South Africa Tied to Biofuels Policy
On January 8, 2013 the New England Complex Systems Institute published a study that ties biofuels policy to recent civil unrest in South Africa and other countries. This study points out how a minor increase in global energy supply continues to destabilize governments, and reduce U.S. security. The study calls for change in biofuels policies that mandate the conversion of food and feed crops to fuel. (Link http://necsi.edu/research/social/southafrica/)
NEW: AMI Meat and Poultry Research Presentation, Atlanta GA, 1/31/2013
The slide set is available here
NEW: Food Costs are Eating American Family Budgets
The paper is available here
NEW: Carolina Feed Industry Association Meeting Presentation
The paper is available here
NEW: Ethanol Production: Economic Impact on Meat and Poultry Consumption, Value, and JobsThe paper is available here
7/19/2012 RFS Issues and Need for Reform: Paper and Slides
The paper is available here, the slide set here.
7/24/2012 NCBA Technology Forum Slides
The slide set is here.
2/16/2012 National Turkey Federation Presentation
The 2012 NTF slide set is available here.
11/8/2011 and 11/9/2011 CFIA Presentations
The State of the Industry slide set is available here.
The Corn Price Drivers slide set is available here.
The Corn Price and Ethanol paper is available here.
9/15/2011 California Poultry Federation Outlook Presentation
The slide set is available here.
4/18/2011 Feedstuffs article on the future of cattle feeding
The article is available here.
Written Testimony to the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee
Testimony submitted by Dr. Elam on April 13, 2011 is available here.
2/10/2011 Video of Dr. Elam at NTF
A video of Dr. Elam made at the 2011 NTF annual meeting is available at: here.
12/13/2010 Emerging Corn Price and Ethanol Relationships
Dr. Elam's and Dr. Meyers paper on corn prices and ethanol is available here.
11/25/2010 Feedstuffs Article on Corn Balance Sheet
The Feedstuffs article "Ethanol Has Made the Traditional Feedgrain Balance Sheet Obsolete" by Dr. Elam is available here
11/19/2010 Comments on GIPSA Proposed Rules
The GIPSA Proposed Rules comments prepared by Dr. Elam for the National Chicken Council are available here
7/20/2009 Feedstuffs Article on Global Meat Demand
The article highlighting the relationship between global consumer spending and total meat production can be downloaded here.
Choices Article on Biofuels Policy
The AAEA journal Choices published a special edition on biofuels. The FarmEcon LLC paper that appeared in Choices is available here.
The entire issue is available from this link: http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/pdf/issue_5.pdf or from this site by clicking here.
Cost of biofuels policy to the U.S. Economy
Ethanol production, spurred on by federal mandates, is increasing corn demand and causing sharply higher feed costs for producers of meat, poultry and dairy products. Despite the largest corn plantings on record and near-record yields, corn prices remain well over their 3-year average. Given the corn prices that ethanol producers can afford at $100+ per barrel oil and current ethanol subsidies it appears that feed costs have permanently moved to a much higher plateau. Dr. Elam has published a study on the effects of Federal ethanol subsidies on feed and food costs. This study was sponsored by the National Turkey Federation, the National Chicken Council and the American Meat Institute. A copy of the full study is available here.
Dr. Tom Elam named as a Poultry USA "Top Gun" consultant
The November, 2006 edition of Poultry USA named Tom Elam as one of the most trusted consultants to the U.S. poultry industry. You can see the entire list of "Top Guns" at: http://www.wattpoultryusa-digital.com/wattpoultryusa/200611