Nearly a million acres of corn are being planted across the state this spring, with more than 50 million bushels expected at harvest time.
Most is destined to feed the dairy cows that rank New York third in the country in milk production, with Cayuga County among the counties leading that production.
But that soon may change.
With New York scratching at the door of the nation's expanding ethanol industry, the state's corn growers are anticipating a whole new market for their product - one that could mean more money and more stability than herds of hungry cows alone can provide.
“It's a way for agriculture to kind of stand on its own. I think most farmers would welcome that,” said Steve Van Voorhis, president of the New York Corn Growers Association.
There are plans for at least four New York ethanol plants on the drawing board. Together they would use a combined 80 million bushels of grain corn to produce about 200 million gallons of the high octane gasoline additive a year.
The corn ethanol plants - in Orleans, Seneca and Oswego counties - would be among the first in the Northeast and complement a flurry of new plant construction in the nation's Midwest corn belt; a U.S. Department of Agriculture report said U.S. ethanol production could rise to 7 billion gallons in 2010, compared to 3.3 billion gallons produced in 2005.
And a smaller plant is in the works in Venice, where Log City Milling owner David Smith is looking to build a million-gallon ethanol plant that would use feed wheat - and possibly some corn - as its raw material. The plant is in the early planning stages, but it would be sited on Genoa-Venice Townline Road.
Smith is looking to secure some government financing for the project, but has said he hopes to be running within a year. The plant could eventually employ up to 25 people.
Smith might be in the right state at the right time.
New York, a major ethanol market because of the number of vehicles on the roads, and other non-producing states tend to pay more for ethanol because they need to import it.
In-state facilities, like one recently announced here in far western New York, represent “another significant step in our goal of developing a strong biofuel industry in the state,” said Gov. George Pataki, “which will not only provide an economic boost to our farming community, but keep our energy dollars here in New York.”
Pataki, the first Northeast governor to join the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, promised $6 million and other incentives for the $87 million Shelby facility to be built on an old cabbage farm. It may be the first plant to get up and running, with groundbreaking expected in June and production in January 2008.
For local farmers, having a new market in their own backyard promises to pay off.
Grower Jim Panek, who produces about 300,000 bushels of corn, estimates his farm will save $30,000 to $50,000 a year on trucking costs alone by driving his corn just four miles from his Albion farm near the Lake Ontario shore to Shelby, rather than shipping it to feed mills in the Southern Tier.
“To know you have a market for the product locally is fantastic,” Panek said. “It's going to help the future of our farm. All my sons farm with me and it will be great for the future for them.”
The Western New York Energy plant, whose chief executive, John Sawyer, was a longtime farmer, expects to buy 6 million of its needed 20 million bushels of corn from upstate corn farmers and import the rest from the Midwest. Some estimate the demand will add 12 to 20 cents to the per-bushel price, now around $2.
Another benefit, the year-round market will allow farmers to pick and choose when to sell their corn, allowing them to unload right away to free up storage or hang onto it in hopes of a higher price.
“The market's still going to work, but overall, there will be another market so farmers can sell their corn when they want to rather than be at the whim of the market,” Van Voorhis said.
“There is no doubt that biofuels production will have a significant and beneficial impact upon the agricultural industry in New York State,” said New York Farm Bureau President John Lincoln.
Empire Biofuels, formed by a coalition of growers in 2003, plans another 50 million gallon ethanol plant, likely in Seneca County. A third facility is planned inside a former Miller Brewing Co. plant in Fulton, Oswego County. That operation's goal is 100 million gallons of ethanol per year.
None of the plants will employ huge numbers of workers, just 50-100 people, but all tout hundreds of spinoff construction and transportation-related jobs.
The plants also will produce and sell two byproducts: carbon dioxide for beverage carbonation and freeze drying, and distillers grains, a high quality protein feed - meaning the cows won't go hungry.
But that soon may change.
With New York scratching at the door of the nation's expanding ethanol industry, the state's corn growers are anticipating a whole new market for their product - one that could mean more money and more stability than herds of hungry cows alone can provide.
“It's a way for agriculture to kind of stand on its own. I think most farmers would welcome that,” said Steve Van Voorhis, president of the New York Corn Growers Association.
There are plans for at least four New York ethanol plants on the drawing board. Together they would use a combined 80 million bushels of grain corn to produce about 200 million gallons of the high octane gasoline additive a year.
The corn ethanol plants - in Orleans, Seneca and Oswego counties - would be among the first in the Northeast and complement a flurry of new plant construction in the nation's Midwest corn belt; a U.S. Department of Agriculture report said U.S. ethanol production could rise to 7 billion gallons in 2010, compared to 3.3 billion gallons produced in 2005.
And a smaller plant is in the works in Venice, where Log City Milling owner David Smith is looking to build a million-gallon ethanol plant that would use feed wheat - and possibly some corn - as its raw material. The plant is in the early planning stages, but it would be sited on Genoa-Venice Townline Road.
Smith is looking to secure some government financing for the project, but has said he hopes to be running within a year. The plant could eventually employ up to 25 people.
Smith might be in the right state at the right time.
New York, a major ethanol market because of the number of vehicles on the roads, and other non-producing states tend to pay more for ethanol because they need to import it.
In-state facilities, like one recently announced here in far western New York, represent “another significant step in our goal of developing a strong biofuel industry in the state,” said Gov. George Pataki, “which will not only provide an economic boost to our farming community, but keep our energy dollars here in New York.”
Pataki, the first Northeast governor to join the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, promised $6 million and other incentives for the $87 million Shelby facility to be built on an old cabbage farm. It may be the first plant to get up and running, with groundbreaking expected in June and production in January 2008.
For local farmers, having a new market in their own backyard promises to pay off.
Grower Jim Panek, who produces about 300,000 bushels of corn, estimates his farm will save $30,000 to $50,000 a year on trucking costs alone by driving his corn just four miles from his Albion farm near the Lake Ontario shore to Shelby, rather than shipping it to feed mills in the Southern Tier.
“To know you have a market for the product locally is fantastic,” Panek said. “It's going to help the future of our farm. All my sons farm with me and it will be great for the future for them.”
The Western New York Energy plant, whose chief executive, John Sawyer, was a longtime farmer, expects to buy 6 million of its needed 20 million bushels of corn from upstate corn farmers and import the rest from the Midwest. Some estimate the demand will add 12 to 20 cents to the per-bushel price, now around $2.
Another benefit, the year-round market will allow farmers to pick and choose when to sell their corn, allowing them to unload right away to free up storage or hang onto it in hopes of a higher price.
“The market's still going to work, but overall, there will be another market so farmers can sell their corn when they want to rather than be at the whim of the market,” Van Voorhis said.
“There is no doubt that biofuels production will have a significant and beneficial impact upon the agricultural industry in New York State,” said New York Farm Bureau President John Lincoln.
Empire Biofuels, formed by a coalition of growers in 2003, plans another 50 million gallon ethanol plant, likely in Seneca County. A third facility is planned inside a former Miller Brewing Co. plant in Fulton, Oswego County. That operation's goal is 100 million gallons of ethanol per year.
None of the plants will employ huge numbers of workers, just 50-100 people, but all tout hundreds of spinoff construction and transportation-related jobs.
The plants also will produce and sell two byproducts: carbon dioxide for beverage carbonation and freeze drying, and distillers grains, a high quality protein feed - meaning the cows won't go hungry.
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