Just read an interesting tweet about how ethanol production provides 17lbs of livestock feed for every bushel processed. Seems to me this often gets left out of the food vs fuel debate. Sure you can get more food out of the entire bushel, but we forget that just because a load of corn goes to the ethanol plant doesn’t mean it’s totally removed from the food supply. Just to clarify, I’m not totally sold on ethanol yet as a corn grower, and it often doesn’t pay for us to drive the ten extra miles to the ethanol plant, but we need to keep in mind that the by-products are put to good use.
(@thefarmerslife) has shared a Tweet with you: “thefarmerslife: RT: @drewbender RT @renewablefuel: Each bushel of #corn yields 2.8 gallons of #ethanol & 17 lbs of livestock feed. #agchat #agfact” –http://twitter.com/thefarmerslife/status/39799167396220928
Posted from WordPress for Android
I heard something about this on the radio last week. If you didn’t have to drive the extra 10 miles, would you be more inclined to take part of your crop to an ethanol plant?
That’s an excellent question I’ve not really asked myself, so let me think out loud a bit here.
Every grain marketer will tell you to always take emotion out of your marketing decisions. From that standpoint I’d guess I’d be stupid not to take the extra cash. Let’s say the price for corn to ethanol is $.05/bushel greater than regular corn, which is pretty likely in our area. So far we’ve taken about 100 loads averaging 1000 bushels/load since harvest. That amounts to an extra $5000, which isn’t a small amount, but it isn’t a fortune either especially split three ways. You’d also have to think about it being convenient for all your neighbors too which could give them an edge when it’s time to buy/rent land or bid on machinery at auction if you weren’t taking the premium price.
I’m behind the science of ethanol and alternative fuels, but I’d prefer them to become mainstream because the market demands it, not because the EPA mandates that ethanol blends move from 10% to 15% or higher (they could lower this as well if they think grain stocks aren’t building fast enough). On the other hand, it would be nice for this nation to become energy independent. I’m also waiting to see what happens with cellulosic ethanol in the next few years, which will change all this again. That’s a lot to think about while you’re driving those ten miles.
It will take time but I think the energy economy is heading that way for several reasons. The cellulose and algae fuel will eventually become more of a demand. Especially considering what is happening in Africa and the Middle East right now. Personally, I think it is up to the U.S. science community, oil companies, and auto makers to work on making it more of a viable option for the normal consumer. Once it does become mainstream…I don’t think the extra ten miles will make a difference. The profit will far outweigh the distance.
Hopefully we can get to that point. Let’s let the free market decide what it wants, not give cars like the Volt and Leaf come with $7500 gov’t rebates. I understand that sometimes a budding industry or product needs a little boost via subsidies to get a foothold, but this is only $500 short of what was being given for new home purchases a couple years ago. Cellulose, nuclear, naturgal gas, we can do this!
Why is there a premium for corn sold to an ethanol plant? Isn’t the price of corn equal to the price of corn? If the extra 10 miles to drive for delivery did not exist would this not eliminate the premium?
I can’t speak for every farmer across the nation obviously, but our situation may be a little unique in that the elevator we go to most often and the ethanol plant are two locations under the same company. They’re trying to sell products nationally and globally so I’m sure it gets more complicated than I know, but it makes sense to me that if they want to steer some traffic to ethanol that they would offer a few cents more for that. Also, the end product is surely still profitable at that higher price and there is a $.45 tax credit at the pump as well. Keep in mind that there will also be a whole bunch of farmers that the regular plant is ten miles farther for them than the ethanol plant. You’ll find a recurring theme in agriculture is an endless number of variables to use for decision making which can be overwhelming at times.
A side note: Corn markets are going to get even more volatile with all that is going on in the Middle East as corn prices closely follow oil prices and the value of the dollar.
I don’t think that Americans would fully voluntarily make the switch to alternative fuels without a significant push, such as what could happen to oil prices in the middle east. Unfortunately, the direct correlation oil to corn prices is unfortunately a little counter-productive in this regard. If only, the machinery could run on corn stoves and solar!! 🙂 Initially, it would help, if there was a bargain aspect rather the ‘eco-fuels’ are even spendier than buying some middle east gasoline, (at least here, I notice that to be true) and so often, what socks us in the pocket book takes a little precedence. Simply being green and even pro-American, needs to be something more than the elite can consider at all times. In my opinion, the movement of gaining our independence in fuel needs very well starts at the source, be perpetuated and advocated by the source, which is you, my farmer friend, as you are more aware than the regular consumer. The rest of us will just enjoy doing the right thing once its more readily available.
I appreciate you bringing this to my consciousness. I, myself have a ten mile drive to get to an ethanol station, which I will most certainly make priority of doing now, just to help things along a bit. Thanks!!
Devan, you’re right. Americans won’t make a fundamental shift like that until some catalyst forces them to. As far as machinery goes look up Tier IV diesel and you’ll see cleaner, more powerful machines. Farmers are producing more with less fuel, fertilizer, and chemicals every year.
Oh…one thing to add, is the huge problem about some cars older than say, 2003, not liking ethanol in their tanks. What are people to do if they drop 30-40K on a machine that cannot use this fuel. I know most gas has some ethanol in it….but can regular engines be converted to pure ethanol consumption. GM has the only ones I have seen that do so far, but by no means, have I done exhaustive research. Is combustion just combustion?
It’s already done for 2001 and newer vehicles. E15 not E85. See here: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/01/epa-approves-gasoline-with-15-ethanol-for-2001-06-cars-/1
I have to take issue with one statement in that article about environmental groups’ concerns about more land being used to raise corn. These groups often imply to the uninformed that forests, etc are being torn down to increase acreage. The only way to really increase acres is for farmers to take their land in conservation reserve programs (CRP) and put it back into production. This would be things like filter strips along ditch banks of which we have several. Some say there are up to 10 million acres in these programs. You may see some of this if prices for corn remain high. To put the numbers in perspective there will be about 90 million acres of corn planted this year, so if all the land was put to use we’d gain around 10%. Even if that happened it wouldn’t all go to corn anyway.
For cars that don’t have fuel injection there are carburaters and tubing available that are compatible with E85. Also E85 has an octane rating of around 106 giving a slight performance increase in some vehicles.
Thanks for the link. It seems there is no easy button for producing our own fuel needs. (Referring to comments on the link you provided) It seems very evident that there is just simply nothing substantial to our current consumption, and any and all changes are going to increase costs of living, no matter what. No matter what, things will no longer be as they used to be, which is not a bad things, but there are going to be lots of angry folks no matter which direction this particular avenue goes. It’s all larger than I can wrap my mind around!!
I’ll add this in response to a question I received on facebook about the nutrient value of ethanol by products.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/as-fact/distillers.html
With any new technology, there is higher cost. VCRs used to cost hundreds of dollars. Once the process to use the new technology is streamlined and made more efficient and supply and demand even themselves out cost will generally come down. As farmers, processing plants, and energy companies learn how to produce alternative energy in a more effecient way…the model would suggest that costs and end user proces would come down. I can’t see alternative fuels following the same trend as fossil fuels since alternative fuels are renewable. There will always be supply to keep up with demand. With that said, I could see the greed of corporate America trying to keep prices as high as possible for as long as possible.
Agreed the price of tech normally drops over time (are you listening Motorola, the Xoom ain’t that great), but will the fuels remain sustainably renewable? Politics in poor parts of the world like Africa are going to have to change to help those people improve production to help themselves if we are going to feed and fuel everyone. The American farmer will always be on the cutting edge, but if we want some energy independence the rest of the world needs to be allowed to catch up. A lot of what is going on in the Middle East can be tied to food prices rising. We can’t continue to let people like Gaddafi determine what we pay for fuel.