Midwest farmers and E85, a symbiotic relationship
Farmers in the American Midwest have a responsibility to grow produce. For years they've been turning out millions of pounds of corn and soybeans and wheat. Today, of course, they also play a key role in the production of much of the ethanol produced in this country. And, as this article in Motor Trend points out, they're users and producers of ethanol, and have been for years. The article says farmers have been using a 10 percent ethanol blend in their standard gasoline-powered vehicles for years. Now the E85-capable trucks and cars are pretty easily available, they're snapping those up as well. Many farmers are also investing in ethanol production plants.
A few other bits of interest from the article: E85 gets about 17 percent less mileage than standard gasoline and most of the 600+ gas stations around the country that offer E85 are in the Midwest. The article says nothing about how farmland is being turned into subdivisions and how this may affect ethanol's future.
[Source: Motor Trend/AP]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MattK 1:12PM (5/24/2006)
C'mon! Farms turning into subdivisions isn't the problem. There are millions of acres of farmland available and with a little bit of incentive -- biofuels -- more land will be dedicated to farming that is now idle.
Modern farming methods produce more crops on less land.
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