How do farmers benefit from ethanol?

How do farmers benefit from ethanol?

Ethanol production grew as oil prices rose and Americans looked for a way to stretch their supplies of gasoline. Ethanol was a renewable, American made option and a clean-burning fuel. State programs helped ethanol along. It was also good for farmers, and corn prices started to climb.

How does ethanol affect agriculture?

Increased values for residues used in ethanol production would feed back into crop production decisions by increasing the total value of the crop—farmers would receive revenues for both the crop (e.g., corn) and the residue (e.g., stover)—although revenues for the primary crop may be reduced as crop feedstock demand …

What are the pros of producing ethanol?

Because ethanol is mostly a product of processed corn, ethanol production supports farmers and creates domestic jobs. And because ethanol is produced domestically, from domestically grown crops, it reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil and increases the nation’s energy independence.

Is ethanol used in farming?

The ethanol sector creates new demand for the crops that serve as feedstocks. This raises the production and prices of these crops, which leads to growth in revenues. Since agricultural capital is sector-specific, the feedstock sectors draw in more land and labor to meet the growing demand.

What is ethanol production?

Ethanol is a domestically produced alternative fuel most commonly made from corn. It is also made from cellulosic feedstocks, such as crop residues and wood—though this is not as common. U.S. ethanol plants are concentrated in the Midwest because of the proximity to corn production.

How does agriculture consume and/or produce ethanol?

Most ethanol in the United States is produced from starch-based crops by dry- or wet-mill processing. Nearly 90% of ethanol plants are dry mills due to lower capital costs. Dry-milling is a process that grinds corn into flour and ferments it into ethanol with co-products of distillers grains and carbon dioxide.

How does ethanol benefit the environment?

Ethanol can reduce pollution These evaporative emissions contribute to the formation of harmful, ground-level ozone and smog. Gasoline requires extra processing to reduce evaporative emissions before blending with ethanol. Producing and burning ethanol results in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas.

What are the pros and cons of producing ethanol?

Ethanol. Pros: Reduces demand for foreign oil, low emissions, high octane, and can potentially be produced from waste materials; existing cars can use 10-percent blends (called E10), and more than 8 million cars already on the road can use E85. Cons: Twenty-five percent lower fuel economy on E85 than gasoline.

What is the importance of ethanol?

Ethanol is an important industrial chemical; it is used as a solvent, in the synthesis of other organic chemicals, and as an additive to automotive gasoline (forming a mixture known as a gasohol). Ethanol is also the intoxicating ingredient of many alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and distilled spirits.

Why is ethanol so important?

Ethanol is responsible for removing the carbon equivalent of 20 million cars from the road. A smaller carbon footprint and an increase in energy efficiency. Ethanol use reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45 percent compared to gasoline–even when hypothetical land-use change emissions are included.