Nebraska State Senators have given first approval to LB 507, a measure that would prohibit the use of treated seed in ethanol production under certain circumstances. The Nebraska Corn Growers Association assisted Senator Bruce Bostelman of Brainard with crafting the bill. Corn Grower’s Executive Director Kelly Brunkhorst says they helped get better clarification in the legislation.

The need for the legislation came about after an ethanol plant in Mead had been using treated seed corn, also called distillers grain which was stockpiled on the company’s property. Bostleman says that can’t be fed to livestock or applied to farmland because it contains pesticide residue. Brunkhorst says health needs to be preserved when producing ethanol and this bill helps ensure that.

He says Bostleman’s bill should help fix the problem seen earlier with treated seed and also that it’s important to note that most of the corn used in ethanol production is number two yellow corn.

Bostleman says that using treated seed corn to produce ethanol is not environmentally safe nor is it commonly used for production in Nebraska or anywhere else.