That's interesting Milo. There are a variety of crops, like sugarcane, that do a lot better than grain at producing ethanol. Grain produces a relatively low yield for the effort, but can get some increased efficiency if the waste product is additionally used as a livestock feed.
There is currently a 5-billion gallon ethanol mandate as part of the stalled energy bill. Good for major agribusiness, and the farmers seem to think its good for them too (though imports and the development of biomass technologies may bite them in the ass). A real pisser for the oil industry though because ethanol can't be shipped in pipelines (blended or straight) and must be blended at the terminals. It increases botique fuel problems and overall price volatility issues as well. And, at it's core, there's only so much ethanol you can produce compared to US gasoline demand. US grain ethanol is more expensive and we, as taxpayers, take care of that.
You can get overseas ethanol cheaper and undercut the subsidy, but tariff measures are apparently being promoted to protect that subsidy for grain. All in all, a pander to farmers and profits for ADM, in the US at least.
Charon
