Green fields look golden to corn man

COLUMBUS - Approaching Columbus from the south as the sun was rising this morning, Don Hutchens got a peek at the kind of economic vitality that is being harvested from a coalition of agricultural interests that has taken decades to develop.

As the executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board was driving into Columbus, he drove past center pivots watering thirsty crops, cattle fattening for market and the stacks at the community's ethanol plant.

“It was great scenery,'' Hutchens told about 300 people attending the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Platte County Fairgrounds. He has worked with the corn board to expand the demand for the state's corn and boost the profitability for producers.

“What an exciting time it is for Nebraska and U.S. agriculture,” Hutchens said.

The corn board, state government and agricultural leaders have been striving to forge a coalition among corn and livestock producers since the mid-1980s to recognize the mutual benefits that can be realized from the development of ethanol production facilities.

Corn producers, cattle and hog producers and a viable biofuel industry are good for the economy, good for the environment and good for agriculture, Hutchens said. “The ethanol industry is here, and it's here to stay.”

Columbus has been in the vanguard of the state's ethanol development since the early-1990s when ground was broken on the plant now owned by Archer Daniels Midland Co. The plant ADM acquired in the late-1990s is already the state's largest, although a Blair facility now under construction will change that.

ADM plans a new plant located next to the existing Eighth Street facility that will increase ethanol production from about 100 million gallons to 500 million gallons annually. Production should begin by 2008 or 2009. The state's 12th ethanol plant is now in production at Lexington, with seven more under construction, and another 16 “under consideration,” according to state ethanol officials.

“Columbus has been the framework and the foundation for the state's ethanol industry,'' Hutchens said.

Building an alliance of agricultural interests on behalf of ethanol development has had corn board officials working to dispel worries among livestock producers. Corn used to produce ethanol could spur demand for livestock feed, creating a price spiral that would drive up production costs for feeders.

In 1987, the state's lone ethanol plant accounted for 1 percent of annual corn production. Today, the plants consume about 26 percent to 28 percent of the corn production.

The plants could consume 50 percent to 60 percent of state corn production in two to four years, Hutchens said.

A growing percentage of corn devoted to ethanol will be offset by advances in biotechnology that will continue the trend of rising corn production, Hutchens said. The state's corn production, 1.3 billion bushels last year, grew from an average of 126 bushels per acre in 2000 to 160 bushels per acre in 2005.

Livestock producers also are increasingly using the distillers grains produced during ethanol production as feed for livestock, Hutchens said.

The trend line of corn production creates even more pressure to accelerate demand, Hutchens said. Within three to six years, drought-resistant seed corn hybrids will be developed that will boost corn production even more, he predicted.

Even with the greater demands on corn production from ethanol development, Hutchens said he expects Nebraska to overtake Texas as the state with the most cattle on feed within five years.

Meanwhile, ethanol also has been touted as the “green” alternative motor fuel with a push to make it more widely available not only as a 10 percent additive but with an 85 percent blend with gasoline. American automakers have announced plans to increase production of vehicles that will run on the 85 percent blend.

“It doesn't work price wise today (with E-85 more than 40 cents a gallon higher than other fuels), but it's not going to be that way forever,'' Hutchens said. “We don't want to turn our backs on E-85.”