Ethanol good for U.S. agriculture: poll

Reuters
Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:29pm EST
By Christopher Doering

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - U.S. farmers believe overwhelmingly that ethanol has been good for American agriculture, believing the renewable fuel has boosted their bottom line, a straw poll conducted by Reuters showed on Tuesday.

Makers of the alternative fuel are expected to consume 3.6 billion bushels of corn, or about 30 percent of the U.S. corn crop, to make ethanol during 2008/09, up from about 23 percent the prior year. A study by Informa Economics forecast ethanol to climb to 34 percent of U.S. corn production in 2009.

Nearly 80 percent of the 820 farmers surveyed at the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual meeting in San Antonio said ethanol was beneficial for agriculture, but 17 percent of respondents said it did more harm than good.

Read the full story