Iowa survey shows shift in corn sales, ethanol and DDGS movement

Ethanol Producer Magazine April 2009
By Ryan C. Christiansen

The direct sale of Iowa corn from growers to processors, including ethanol plants, has been increasing steadily, while the sale of corn to grain elevators has been declining, according to a study conducted by researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Tennessee.

Meanwhile, grain elevators are shipping more corn to ethanol plants, and they are receiving and shipping more distillers dried grains (DDGs). The effects of the ethanol industry on the movements of Iowa corn were studied by Chad Hart, an agronomist at Iowa State University, and Tun-Hsiang Yu, an agronomist at the University of Tennessee. They reported their findings in a paper titled “Impact of Biofuel Industry Expansion on Grain Utilization and Distribution: Preliminary Results of Iowa Grain and Biofuel Survey.” The researchers surveyed nearly 5,000 farmers and grain handlers over several months during the 2006-’07 marketing year, and the data gathered was compared with surveys from previous years.

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