Emily Richards and her band came by the media room this afternoon in advance of their performance tonight which I’ll be attending. We sat down for a group interview in which I found out why they’re involved. Listen to my Emily Richards Band (2012AM) interview here: Emily Richards Interview (6 min MP3) Listen to the Biodiesel Willie Song here: Biodiesel … Read More

The keynote speaker here at the Conference today was Dr. John Stoessinger. He is an author of books like “Why Nations Go To War.” I think he has a very interesting story to tell and I interviewed him about his message to this audience. One of the things he focuses on is summed up by the word “gratitude.” He has … Read More

NBB Chairman Darryl Brinkmann took to the stage today and gave us a great overview of what the organization is doing. He mentioned that the word biodiesel is now in the dictionary for the first time. You can learn a lot about what NBB is doing, especially in the area of quality control. Darryl talks about the growth of the … Read More

DaimlerChrysler representative Deb Morrissett was on hand again this year and spoke at this morning’s general session. She made an announcement that the company would provide a nice purchase incentive for NBB board and staff members as a way to show support and thanks for all the work they do to help further the promotion and development of biodiesel. I … Read More

One of the newest stars to advocate biodiesel is Merle Haggard. The legendary country star performed for attendees at this year’s Conference after meeting with the press and the board of the National Biodiesel Board. Before coming to the auditorium where he performed though his bus got a fill up with biodiesel. During the press conference Merle said that he … Read More

The chairman of the National Biodiesel Board is Darryl Brinkmann, seen here on the left during a rehearsal session yesterday with Larry Hagman and Daryl Hannah. I spoke with Darryl today about how this conference is growing and what he sees as challenges facing the biodiesel business even in light of all the growth that’s taking place. Darryl says that … Read More

At this morning’s general session a panel discussion was held that featured U. S. Representatives, Collin Peterson (D-MN), Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) and Dave Wheldon (R-FL). These are also the members of The Second Amendments, the band that played at half time during the Super Bowl party yesterday. They talked about their vision of our nation’s energy future. … Read More

Okay. So I lied. Here’s Joe again. This time with Michael Peterson. Michael is a country music star who is a very passionate supporter of farmers. He’s here with us this week and I got a few minutes with him during half time of the Super Bowl. See if you can hear the passion in his voice when he talks … Read More

Renewable energy advocate Larry Hagman is on hand here at the the conference. Here he’s being interviewed live on AgriTalk. I caught up to Larry while he was rehearsing his remarks for today’s opening general session. Larry says he’s just installed solar panels to fuel his home and he’s here to learn more about biodiesel. He says he’s got some … Read More

We just can’t get enough of the head guy here on the blog. Joe Jobe kicked off the general session in grand style. Joe talks about the priorities and activities of the National Biodiesel Board. I’m waiting on a transcript of his speech which I’ll post a link to here as soon as I get it. Post Update: Here’s a … Read More

One of the board members for NBB is Bob Metz, a soybean grower from South Dakota. He’s pictured here to the right of NBB CEO Joe Jobe. I interviewed Bob about his thoughts on the state of the biodiesel industry, especially from the standpoint of a farmer. He says that soybean growers have invested over $40 million in the development … Read More

Just like last year, one of the first persons I ran into here is Daryl Hannah. Daryl has been to every National Biodiesel Conference and can’t believe how much it has grown. She’s pictured here with Jenna Higgins, Communications Director for the National Biodiesel Board during rehearsals for tomorrow’s opening general session. I spoke with Daryl about the conference and … Read More

Hello from the biodiesel blogger. Once again this year I’ll be your conference blogger and posting pictures, interviews and video clips during the conference which kicks off this weekend. To get us started I interviewed National Biodiesel Board CEO, Joe Jobe. Joe gives us an overview of what we can expect. You can listen to my interview with Joe here: … Read More

The Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board is Darryl Brinkman. He’s a farmer from Illinois and was one busy man this week. In the interview he talks about the mood of the people attending the conference. He describes how the NBB got started with soybean checkoff dollars and that he thinks it’s been a wise investment. You can listen my … Read More

Josh Tickell is the “Biodiesel America” author who spoke at the first general session of the conference. I got to sit down with him for a personal interview. Although I asked him not to give away the exciting ending of the book Josh does pretty well summarize what you’ll find if you buy his book. You can order it from … Read More

As you probably know, we’ve created a series of podcasts from most of the audio files and interviews that’s I’ve created at the conference. One of the interviews I conducted was with NBB board member, Greg Anderson, a farmer from Nebraska. When I mentioned podcasting to him he pulled his iPod Nano out of his pocket. How cool is that? … Read More

The conference closed with a live XM Satellite Radio broadcast in the ballroom that featured Willie Nelson and several people like NBB CEO Joe Jobe. The show is Bill Mack, The Satellite Cowboy, on the Open Road channel (171). I know there’s a lot of interest in getting copies of the show and that’s being looked into as a possibility. … Read More