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Corn and soybean growers benefit from increased use of biofuels

Corn and soybean farmers across the country are benefiting from the expansion of biofuels use.

The High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit brought stakeholders across the transportation sector together to discuss future energy solutions that include corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel.

Paul Hodgen is president of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. He says ethanol benefits farmers, consumers, and the environment.

“Half of our corn here in the state gets converted to ethanol. The reason why we’re here in Speedway during the month of May, most people don’t realize, is the IndyCars all run on E85. So, the fuel they’re using is raised right here in United States and it’s also fuel that we can go home, put right in our vehicles ourselves,” he says. “We can fill up our vehicles with the same fuel that they’re running on the circuit, so that’s why we’re here at the High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit today to talk about the product. We have a wonderful venue here to promote ethanol and also get information out to the consumers. This is just a wonderful event to help spur conversations amongst our collaborators within the liquid fuels industry.”

Hodgen raises corn, soybeans, and wheat in the west central part of the state.

Mike Koehne is chairman of the Indiana Soybean Alliance. He says biodiesel provides added value to soybean farmers.

“We like to promote that biodiesel moves the pile and brings revenue back to us. It’s a product that we use and it’s good to promote something that we actually use on the farm,” he says. “It’s a use of the soybean oil and we want to move the pile and keep things going.”

He tells Brownfield he uses the fuel on his farm in southeastern Indiana.

“We raise the feedstock used in biodiesel and we like to use things that we raise,” he says. “It feels good.”

The High Performance Low Carbon Liquid Fuels Summit by Indiana Corn Growers Association and Indiana Soybean Alliance took place at the AJ Foyt Winery and Dallara IndyCar Factory Tuesday and Wednesday in Speedway, Indiana.