Ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland has idled its production at its corn ethanol plants in Columbus, Nebraska and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 90 employees are being furloughed in each facility for at least four months. Nebraska Ethanol Board Administrator Roger Berry says with those two plants going off line, that’s a big loss of ethanol at 600 million gallons.

He says while there’s a lot of talk about the economic woes petroleum refineries are undergoing, ethanol is also being hit very hard.

Berry says 14 of Nebraska’s ethanol plants are either idled or have cut back production.

Berry says there’s been much discussion about giving direct aid to the petroleum industry but if that occurs, that assistance must also go to ethanol producers. He says those two industries need to quit bickering and work together because if one is suffering so is the other.