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December 1 , 2006
Many key factors related to expanding the nation's ethanol industry aren't being researched under current government programs, Kenneth Cassman, director of the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told the Associated Press.
"It's the core issue to ensuring that we don't come up short in food supply, and don't have high consumer prices, and can still maintain expansion of the ethanol industry," he said.
Since January 2001, U.S. ethanol production has grown significantly, climbing from 1.7 billion gallons to 4.8 billion gallons in June 2006. The report stated some in the corn industry believe it will be possible to produce 16 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015 while also meeting corn grain requirements. But in some areas, the ethanol industry is using up much of the corn, which could pressure the livestock industry.
