The NSW Government is the only real light in the ethanol debate in Australia. All other states should stop the politicing and get on with genuinely supporting ethanol. So far as the NSW Farmers Assoc and the Lot Feeders Assoc are concerned, they need to do some homework about ethanol production. Initially some food feedstock is being used for ethanol production. The industry has to start somewhere. Second generation ethanol technology is getting much closer every day and once commercialised will remove the food v fuel debate and any pricing influence this might have on feedstock prices. Ethanol Technologies Limited (Ethtec) is conducting a Pilot Plant in NSW and are extracting sugars from sugarcane bagasse and woodchip at a very high conversion rate. The Pilot Plant enters it's second year of operation and if the operation continues on track, cellulosic ethanol production could be a reality by 2011.

While I believe that biofuels will play a big role in the future, ethanol produced from grain does not merit consideration.

As oil and grain prices are tied, it will always be uneconomic to produce grain ethanol, and our harvests are too variable to supply the fixed amount of grain, and it impacts global food security and so on.

Grain ethanol plants may not be able to convert to second generation ethanol. Will they be white elephants after 2011? If need be, we can import Brazilian sugar cane ethanol until this second generation ethanol comes on stream.

It is through ignorance or vested interests that anybody would advocate the establishment of a grain ethanol industry? Best to skip this phase of biofuel development.

The NSW governemet does seem to be leading the way in the ethanol debate. Heaven knows, someone needs to.

But there is no need to produce ethanol from grain at all, and in regards to the comment by Two Bob, why import ethanol from Brazil? Australia has it's own sugarcane industry. Why not produce ethanol here from the sugarcane grown by our farmers.

And ethanol can be made from the cane fibre as well as from the sugar.

Enough ethanol could be produced here an make Ausrtalia less dependant on overseas oil without the need to use grain.

Two Bob is right. Ethanol production from grain will only replace a meagre proportion of our fuel needs yet will have a disproportionate impact upon grain and food prices.

If the NRMA is concerned about fuel prices, then it shouldnt be supportive of ethanol production - consumers are currently financially worse off using E10 over conventional petrol. This is because it has 2/3rds the energy of petrol and the present price discount does not fully compensate for this lower energy level.

Ethanol production from second generation and algal technologies is the answer, not creating Government ethanol mandates which create an artificial and inflexible demand on our variable grain supplies.

I certainly welcome the news from NRMA.

Regarding the food v fuel debate, we need a consistent use for our feed grains here in Qld and northernth NSW.

Demand from the chicken and dairy industry is relatively stable, but the pig and cattle industries are up and down like a yoyo.

There is plenty of feed grain around at the moment and historically Qld has been short only twice in the last 20 years.

Importing ethanol does not help our balance of trade. So we need to be value-adding to our commodities here.

Second generation and cellulosic biofuels have been talked about for the past 10 years or so. But they're no closer to major production.

Grain and sugarcane can kick start alternative fuels here. I am sure that alternative feed stocks, when they come, can latch onto the front end of ethanol plants using them as feedstock.