Ethanol Plants Get Corn
|  Video
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 11/24/2009 |
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| Farmers have been waiting all season long to bring this year`s late corn crop in. But they weren`t the only ones anxiously eyeing the fields. Ethanol plants were affected by the delay as well. But now that the crop is coming off the field, things are running at full speed again at the Red Trail Energy Ethanol Plant in Richardton. The ethanol plant never ran out of grain, but managers were certainly ready for this harvest to come in. Trucks keep pulling in, and the corn keeps pouring in. "We grind 55,000 to 60,000 bushels every day, so we need a steady stream of trucks coming in," says Calvin Diehl, a grain merchandiser. And that`s exactly what`s happening. So many trucks are pulling in with full loads that the ethanol plant extended its hours. "We adjusted that to the late harvest," says Diehl. "We used to be open from 6:30 to 3:00, now we`re open from 6:30 to 6:00." They`ve also extended the work week, staying open on Saturdays as well. "Last week was our first Saturday and we dumped a ton of trucks," Diehl says. Trucks have just been pulling in one after the other every day. That`s been going on for more than two weeks. There`s about 1.5 million bushels of storage on site, so there`s plenty of space for all this grain. "The end product is dry distiller`s grain," says Gerald Bachmeier, the CEO of Red Trail Energy. "We actually have a very good market out here. We also have aligned ourselves with producers and feedlots in this region. We do ship some by rail, but it`s a high protein feed." The ethanol produced here can be shipped all across the country, but it all originates right here in North Dakota. "By aligning ourselves with producers, we avoid buying unit trains and set ourselves up so we`re buying North Dakota corn from North Dakota growers," Bachmeier says. And despite the delay in this year`s North Dakota harvest, the grain is arriving just in time to keep that streak going. Right now, the quality of the corn crop that`s coming to the ethanol plant is pretty good. Managers are concerned that the corn that comes in later in the season won`t be quite as high, but say it should still make ethanol. |
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