To the Editor:
Without a doubt, ethanol has been the most prosperous opportunity agriculture has ever seen. Over the past 20 years, we have all witnessed an extremely successful buildout of this industry going from a loosely organized group of inexperienced production facilities to the highly sophisticated and efficient industry we are today.
There are significant challenges ahead and the potential for failure exists if we dont find our place in the global shift toward a low carbon economy. We can ignore this and hope it blows over but that comes with a very real risk that we could be wrong.
Rooted in this movement, everything from airline tickets to the food we eat (even meat) is available as a low carbon option because consumers are demanding it and are willing to pay for it. The low carbon fuel markets we currently serve represent 100 million people and this trend is growing. Ignoring these market trends is not an option and would be significantly detrimental to our mutual success. Companies that fail to listen to consumers usually dont fare wellneed we go beyond the names of Kodak, Blockbuster, Kmart, and Blackberry?
Competing in this new low carbon world could be bigger than ethanol itself, particularly if we can qualify for the production of jet fuel (sustainable aviation fuel) which is THREE TIMES the size of our current market. As these market preferences take hold and the demand for ethanol declines, we MUST compete to stay viable and carbon capture is the best way to do so. Please remember, a lower demand for ethanol equals a lower demand for corn!
How does a future of consistently lower corn prices pencil out for South Dakotas agricultural sector, our economy, and our businesses?
Please join me and Vote YES for RL21.
Jim Seurer
CEO, Glacial Lakes Energy
Watertown
Leave a Reply