Honda Motor Company announced it would discontinue the slow-selling Accord hybrid sedan in North America later this year. The 6,152 hybrid Accords sold in 2006 make continuation of the product unviable, says the company. Its sales target is 20,000 vehicles a year. Honda plans to continue the Civic Hybrid and will introduce a smaller hybrid in 2009. The company says it will only produce hybrids on smaller vehicles going forward.
The Federal Trade Commission announced it is filing a lawsuit to block the proposed Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger. It claims there could be anti-trust issues in allowing the two dominant natural food supermarkets to merge. Whole Foods and Wild Oats announced they will vigorously challenge the FTC’s decision. Industry insiders and financial analysts alike expressed surprise and believe the FTC is missing the point. “I’m startled by FTC’s actions,” said John Moore, founder of brandautopsy.com and former director of national marketing for Whole Foods. “With all the major grocery stores stocking more natural and organic offerings, it seems preposterous to think a merged Whole Foods and Wild Oats would be a threat to competitiveness.” Organic food makes up a tiny 3% of the total grocery sales. And even the combined sales of Whole Foods and Wild Oats represent only about 11% of total U.S. natural food sales.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias announced that the cultivation of genetically modified crops will be prohibited on Venezuelan soil, establishing the most sweeping restrictions on transgenic crops in the western hemisphere. Venezuela cancelled its contract with Monsanto Corporation, which ended the company’s plan to plant 500,000 acres of transgenic soybeans there. “I ordered an end to the project,” said Chavez, when he learned GM crops were involved. “This project is terminated.” Chavez views GM crops as negative for farmers and farmworkers.
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Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and South Dakota Senator John Thune are introducing legislation to promote the development and production of celluosic ethanol. The Biofuels Innovation Program Act of 2007, provides business planning and assistance matching grants of up to $30,000 for entities and communities interested in developing a project area for producers to begin producing dedicated energy and biomass crops, as well as for attracting or creating a cellulosic biofuels facility. Grant applicants would have to submit a proposal that identifies eligible cropland and indicates the area has a strong likelihood for producing biomass for energy. The proposals would have to include a letter of commitment from an existing or proposed biofuels production facility to use the feedstock for producing biofuels or other energy. Once the grant is approved, the areas around the plant (within a 75 mile radius) would be classified as Biofuels Innovations Program (BIP) Project Areas, making them eligible for transitional assistance for the production of biomass feedstock. The assistance would be provided in the form of a percentage of the establishment cost incurred by a producer to plant and grow a biomass crop, as well as yearly rental payments on the land that is growing the […]