With the right contest, barley suddenly looks interesting

Osage Bio Energy is promoting a yield contest for barley, a crop it hopes to turn into ethanol once its first plant goes on line next spring in Hopewell, Virginia. States covered in the contest include Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Grand prize in the Barley Bin Builder competition is a flex-fuel pickup.

On its web site, the company says barley offers several advantages as a bio-fuel source, including the fact that its ethanol plants would not have to rely on imported Midwestern corn for a feed source.

See the web site for more details on the contest.

-- Owen Taylor