South Dakota farmers are selling ethanol into low carbon fuel markets on the West Coast. Chester farmer Ron Alverson says they’ve been sequestering carbon for years on their farm through conservation practices like no-till. He says the corn they grow on that land is then made into ethanol with a lower carbon footprint. Right now the plant gets that premium, but they hope it will one day trickle down to the farm.
Alverson admits that while there is an exciting opportunity to sell both ethanol and biodiesel into the low carbon fuels market, it is tough to get a foothold into it.
However, he says current mandates are working in their favor in states like California.
Alverson says for years corn has been getting a bad rap from environmentalists that claim it is not an efficient feedstock for ethanol. However, those models need to be updated because many farmers are producing corn with a negative carbon balance.
