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Missouri Soybean CEO named to Nixon energy steering committee

Gary Wheeler, CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association, Jefferson City, Mo., Sept. 29, 2014.Missouri Soybean Association CEO Gary Wheeler is one of 50 people in Missouri named by Governor Jay Nixon to the Comprehensive State Energy Plan steering committee.  Several years working with renewable energy producers have given Wheeler a solid background in energy issues.  He tells Brownfield that the steering committee, which was to hold its first meeting Wednesday in St. Louis, will hear about energy sources with which Wheeler is familiar.

“We have several technologies that we can bring to the table, whether it be biodiesel, ethanol, biomass, biogas,” said Wheeler, in an interview with Brownfield Ag News Monday.  “We have several wind farms, solar; and we also can’t forget coal.  Coal’s what’s brought us from the past ‘till now, it’s definite technology that we can improve on, but can be a part of the whole mix.

Wheeler is one of the few committee members involved in an agricultural-based organization, resulting in an approach that considers the possibilities of additional markets for farmers’ crops.

“Diversifying their operations through energy crops, or something as simple as baling the residue,” said Wheeler, “but also, looking to the future, that public and private into new technologies could be very possible.”

The committee is to conduct a series of meetings through October and will submit a final report to the governor at the end of next May.

AUDIO: Gary Wheeler (7 min. MP3)

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