As West Michigan takes the first steps to becoming a major player in the production of alternative fuels, such as, corn-based ethanol, farmers are enjoying a jump in commodity prices and land values. As increased demand pushed corn prices to record highs, Michigan farmers hoping to cash in planted 15 percent more land than in 2006.
According to excerpts from the story:
While drought conditions have somewhat dampened optimism this season, growing interest in ethanol and other next-generation agricultural products and rising commodity prices are driving investment in farmland locally and across the Midwest.
“Ethanol has made corn king in our area,” said Thomas Stewart, a farmer in Barry County six miles north of U.S. Bio Woodbury, the U.S. BioEnergy ethanol plant in Lake Odessa. “We’ve seen land triple and quadruple. The attitudes have changed; everyone wants to get bigger and not necessarily better.”
Read the complete story here.
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