One of the first companies to realize the potential of biodiesel for both farmers and farm machinery was our good friend Gene Hemphill with New Holland, pictured here with NBB CEO Joe Jobe.
Two years ago, Hemphill received the Biodiesel Innovation Award at this conference for his foresight and support of the industry, which he says goes back over 20 years. “We became involved with it when they were actually calling it soy diesel,” Gene says. “We were the first company to offer a warranty on all of our engines for 20 percent biodiesel and about a year and a half later to offer a warranty for 100 percent biodiesel in all of our engines.”
New Holland’s support for the National Biodiesel Conference includes annual sponsorship of the media room, in addition to other special treats such as the display of Jay Leno’s Eco-Jet concept car. They also sponsor special guest appearances. For the last two years, Gene has brought country star Michael Peterson to the conference. This year, his guest is Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who will speak about his support of renewable fuels and entertain at the Tuesday evening reception.
Listen to an interview with Gene here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nbb/nbb-09-gene.mp3]