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.
Congressman Adrian Smith of Nebraska joined us with the latest on efforts to secure year-round E15 sales.
January 23, 2026 01:12 PM
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Nearly everyone in the South Texas ag community appears extremely worried about the potential of a New World screwworm epidemic, according to a local veterinarian. RFD NEWS Correspondent Frank McCaffrey reports.
January 23, 2026 11:56 AM
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Jack Hubbard, with the Center for the Environment and Welfare, shares context and perspective on the controversial letter about Prop 12 circulating in Washington and how a review shows it misled the public.
January 22, 2026 06:25 PM
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From tariff talks in Europe to SCOTUS uncertainty and rising farm losses, analysts say policy and global supply will shape grain markets in the year ahead.
January 22, 2026 12:40 PM
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Large Brazilian crops heighten downside price risk if the weather allows production to reach projected levels.
January 22, 2026 12:38 PM
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Ethanol and corn groups are not hiding their disappointment over new reports that the bill to allow year-round E15 sales failed as Congress forges ahead on government funding, with another shutdown looming.
January 22, 2026 11:24 AM
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