Corn ethanol is out. Algae biodiesel is in.

Speaker after speaker at the AgProgress conference I covered this week in Saskatoon predicted that the end is near for ethanol and biodiesel made from food crops — corn, wheat, canola, soy, etc. What was once the great rising trend will come crashing down if what I've been hearing comes true. Ethanol plants in planning stages will be canceled. Many existing plants will close. Why? Because countries realize two things: One, they will never make a significant dint in their reliance on fossil fuels through the use of these food-based fuels. And two, subsidizing these food-based fuels just makes the current food price crisis worse, especially in developing countries.

Gwynne Dyer, in his presentation at the conference, says the latest buzz is about biodiesel made from algae. Apparently algae has very high oil content and according to the website oilgae.com, the U.S. could grow enough algae to replace its entire petroleum fuel requirement on only 10 million acres of land. I have not done any research into the algae fuel idea. All I can tell you right now is that the world is turning its back on corn- and wheat-based ethanol and vegetable-oil biodiesel. That didn't take long.