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Drought causes challenges for Kansas ethanol plant
The CEO of an ethanol plant in northwest Kansas says 2024 has been a challenging year.
Derek Peine is with Western Plains Energy in Oakley.
“For us in particular, we suffered another year of drought. So that’s pushed our grain prices up, squeezed our margins. So it’s been kind of a difficult two, three years for us.”
He tells Brownfield the ethanol plant uses both corn and grain sorghum as feedstocks.
“Some years, corn is a cheaper option. Some years, grain sorghum is. This year the corn crop is small, putting a lot of basis pressure on corn, so we’re running a lot more sorghum this year than we have the past couple years.”
He says they’ve also been sourcing grain from a broader area because of the drought.
Peine also serves as vice chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association and spoke to Brownfield during the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City, Missouri last week.
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