ADM Says Crop-Yield Gains Enough to Meet Food, Ethanol Demand

Bloomberg.com
By Alan Bjerga and Peter Cook

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Archer Daniels Midland Co., the world’s largest grain processor, expects improved yields will deliver enough crops during the next 40 years to supply rising demand for ethanol without hurting the food supply.

Archer Daniels, based in Decatur, Illinois, plans to boost output and storage capacity as global food needs rise, Chief Executive Officer Patricia Woertz said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington. Rising use of biofuels in the U.S. hasn’t cut available food supplies because of greater crop yields, she said.

“The ability to match the ethanol needs for corn is way outstripped by the additional yields,” said Woertz, who runs the second-biggest U.S. ethanol producer. Increased yields have provided for greater exports in recent years even as ethanol production consumes almost a third of the U.S. corn crop, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.

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