The food versus fuel debate has followed corn ethanol for decades. Critics argue that using corn for fuel removes it from the food supply. Corn growers counter that ethanol production also creates livestock feed, while increasing yields leave farmers searching for more uses for what they produce.
Iowa Corn Growers Association President Mark Mueller says corn can provide food, fuel, fiber, and feed.
Current production figures place the amount of distillers grains closer to 15 to 17 pounds from each 56-pound bushel, rather than the more than 40 pounds Mueller described.
The entire bushel is processed, with much of the starch converted into ethanol. Protein, fiber, fat, and other nutrients remain available through distillers grains and other coproducts. Modern plants can also recover corn oil and carbon dioxide.
Mueller’s broader point remains that ethanol production creates valuable livestock feed instead of removing the entire bushel from the food and feed supply.
He says the larger challenge is finding enough demand for the amount of corn farmers can produce.
Increasing yields allow farmers to produce more corn from each acre, but larger supplies can also pressure prices when demand fails to keep pace.
Corn growers are looking to ethanol, livestock feed, exports, renewable products, and other markets to use that production.
Mueller says Iowa and the broader Corn Belt produce corn efficiently. As that production continues to grow, farmers will need more domestic and international customers for the corn they already know how to raise.
