Ethanol's redemption?

Distillers grain may ease food fears
Faith Bremner • Argus Leader Washington Bureau • August 16, 2008

WASHINGTON - When VeraSun Energy this week reported a 50 percent increase in second-quarter earnings, part of that boost in profits had nothing to do with selling ethanol.

Distillers grain, a byproduct of the process of making ethanol, is becoming an ever-larger part of those companies' revenue, and some say it can play a key role in limiting the effects of ethanol on food prices.

One-third of all the corn used to make ethanol ends up as an ingredient in feed that farmers in the upper Midwest - where most of the ethanol plants are - give their cattle, poultry and pigs. This year, farmers will feed 18 million metric tons of distillers grain to their animals, up from 2.3 million tons nine years ago. About 1 million tons will be exported to places such as Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and Japan.

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