US expected to miss renewable fuel targets

In his recent letter to the editor, Gerald Naughton shares his opinion on ethanol. Although he makes no mention of his level of personal or professional expertise on this matter, he does acknowledge that U.S. ethanol strategy makes no sense to him. Well, you’re in luck, Gerald. I do understand the topic and I’m here to offer some clarity.

Like most issues that catch one’s attention, I’ve gained my knowledge about ethanol through necessity, study and experience. As a small businessman living and farming corn and soybeans in rural Illinois, I became aware of the opportunities and challenges of our domestic ethanol industry as a supplier of raw materials.

Unfortunately, your understanding of national ethanol policy doesn’t match your mastery of rudimentary mathematics. With minimal exploration, you would have discovered that ethanol derived form corn starch (corn kernels) is statutorily capped at 15 billion gallons.

So let’s try the math again. Fifteen billion divided by 13.4 billion (estimated current corn ethanol production) equals 1.12. Now using your 35 percent (mid-range estimate of the corn crop converted to ethanol) times 1.12 equals 39.2 percent, not your alarmist 89.95 percent.

Mathematics aside, you also neglect to account for the fact that national corn yields have been rising at approximately 1.5 percent to 2 percent per year. Furthermore, only the starch portion of the kernel is used for ethanol, while the remainder is returned to the feed market. This year, that will displace over a billion bushels of corn in domestic livestock rations.

I’ve asked my son (an elementary school teacher) to check my work. Unlike you, I got a gold star.

Garry Niemeyer
Auburn

source: The State Journal-Register