JACKSON, NE -
No rain and high heat, two ingredients that have been baking us all summer here in Siouxland, but is the drought drying up the ethanol industry?
Siouxland Ethanol in Jackson, Nebraska is operating 24 hours a day, all week long, and it all depends on corn.
"So whether it was wet or whether it was dry, we're going to have the same volume until we get this new crop," said Chuck Hofland, General Manager of Siouxland Ethanol.
Even though a lot of the fields are burning up, it'll take a while, at least until this year's crop is harvested, before the ethanol industry starts feeling the heat.
Right now the plant's grinding last year's corn, but the heat's been driving up the crop's price.
"Higher price impacts us to the extent that it costs us more to produce ethanol," said Hofland.
Hofland's prepared for that higher price, some of next year's corn crop is already locked in, but no matter how much it costs to do business the price of ethanol usually follows suit.
"High priced corn does not mean that we can't make any money in the ethanol industry," said Hofland. "Because it's the value of the end product, the ethanol that we produce, that decides whether or not we have a margin."
If anything, this year's drought will cause Siouxland Ethanol to have a drop in production next year, just because there'll be less of a corn crop to go around.
