Biofuel updates, insights

By Matt Reese

A lot has changed in 25 years.

Some of the biggest changes in my time with Ohio’s Country Journal involved the biofuels industry. Since the rise of ethanol, largely enabled by efforts from Ohio corn growers, biofuels have gone from a promising new use to a vital (and often controversial) market for corn and soybeans. On one hand, biofuels just make good sense — a renewable, domestic source of energy. Yet, political whims, inconsistent policy and opposition from varied stakeholders have consistently challenged biofuels.

“The status of biofuels is still relatively uncertain because we’re still looking for policy guidance across the number of areas, but we’ve seen a lot of development on the oilseed processing side. There’s been a number of new crushing plants. We had three ribbon cuttings just this past fall,” said Michael Reginelli of Illinois-based Advance Trading. “In Ohio, Cargill had an expansion at Sidney and Louis Dreyfus has plans to build a plant in Upper Sandusky.… Continue reading