May is Renewable Fuels Month, and it is the perfect time to reflect on the journey of the ethanol industry and its roots in farming communities.
Todd Brown, Chairman of Dakota Ethanol, recently shared a story with Ag News Wire about how South Dakota’s corn growers were instrumental in the creation of the state’s first large-scale ethanol plant in 1999.
“The ethanol industry was just becoming new. There were a few private plants, but when I look back, the South Dakota corn growers were so all in and so dedicated, and when you think about it, we were going to be the first plant and we were going to be a 40 million gallon brewing plant and so it was going to take $15-20 million worth of equity. That hadn’t been done. It definitely hadn’t been done in South Dakota, and so the South Dakota corn growers were very instrumental and they did a lot of things that really tipped the scale,” he explained.
Today, Dakota ethanol produces 100 million gallons of eco-friendly ethanol annually, sourced from 33 million bushels of locally grown corn.
Biofuel policy decisions may influence planting economics. Today, March 18, is also National Biodiesel Day.
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This year at CattleCon 2026, RFD Network’s Kirbe Schnoor caught up with Donna Emick from Pneu-Dart to get her perspective on why education, safety, and accountability matter in the field.
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Nebraska’s largest wildfire on-record has burned 650,000 acres, with three other major fires also burning across the state, destroying pastureland and threatening cattle.
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NCBA President Colin Woodall states that misinformation like this is damaging to cattle producers, the beef supply chain, and consumer confidence
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President Trump issues a 60-day Jones Act waiver to ease fuel shipments amid Middle East tensions disrupting energy markets, while biofuel policy gains focus.
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