Agriculture adapting for ethanol

University of Missouri Extension specialists laid out the economic impact of the state’s emerging ethanol industry in a session entitled “Agriculture: Missouri’s Economic Green Giant.”

Four existing ethanol plants in Missouri have had a net economic impact of $522 million and generated $43 million in tax revenue on local, state and federal levels, according to research done by Rex Ricketts, director of the MU Extension commercial agriculture program. Those plants – in Craig, Malta Bend, Laddonia and Macon – produce 160 million gallons of ethanol annually and have processed a combined 56 million bushels of corn. A fifth plant, in St. Joseph, started production Aug. 24.

Dried distillers grains – a value-added byproduct of ethanol production used as cattle feed – also provide a great economic opportunity, said Joe Horner, a beef and dairy economist with the commercial agriculture program.

Horner noted that drying distillers grains is expensive and energy-intensive. Ethanol plants can save up to 40 percent on natural gas bills by bypassing the drying process and feeding wet distillers grains to cows at a co-located dairy, he said. Doing so could mean a 4.5 percent increase on a company’s return on assets, Horner added.

Fifty-six pounds of corn make about 3 gallons of ethanol, and the process creates about 17 pounds of DDGs, Horner said. When Missouri’s ethanol industry reaches a capacity of 800 million gallons a year, the plants will yield nearly 2.4 million tons of DDGs, he said.