Report: Minnesota Ethanol Generated $5 Billion in Economic Activity
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) -- October 11, 2012 -- Minnesota's ethanol industry generated more than $5 billion in total economic activity last year and supported more than 12,600 jobs, according to a new report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.The department report, released Wednesday, Oct. 10, said that ethanol added $912 million to the value of the state's corn crop in 2011, behind only the boom year of 2008 when it added $957 million.
Last year, however, ethanol producers were racing to distill as much of the gasoline additive as possible before a federal production tax credit expired at the end of the year.
The result was a glut of ethanol on the market that lowered the demand for ethanol production in the first part of this year.
This year, ethanol plants have been idled in Minnesota and across the Corn Belt, squeezed by high corn prices due to the drought and the glut.
The Agriculture Department report said that Minnesota farmers harvested more than 1.2 billion bushels of corn last year, with 440 million bushels, or 37 percent, used to produce ethanol and its byproduct, distillers dried grains that are used as animal feed.
The nation's gasoline stocks are required to carry a 10 percent blend of ethanol, but the corn-based fuel has become controversial. Congress ended a production tax credit supporting ethanol last year and livestock farmers this summer criticized it for diverting corn from animal supplies during the drought.
The ethanol industry and corn growers have defended
the fuel as a way to reduce American dependence on foreign oil and provide a fuel with cleaner emissions.
According to agriculture department economist Su Ye, the state's ethanol industry continues to play a critical role in bringing increased returns to the state's largest crop.
"While there have been ups and downs in the industry, the fact is it's a huge advantage for us to keep more of the value of the corn we produce rather than ship it another state or country as a raw commodity," Ye said in a statement.
Author: Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
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(c)2012 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
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