Report Pegs Total Employment Impact Above 10,000

News Date January 30, 2007

A new report produced by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) shows Minnesota's growing ethanol industry generated nearly $2.8 billion and supported more than 10,300 jobs in 2006. 

The MDA's Agricultural Marketing Services Division prepared the four-page report earlier this month as an update to a similar report from February 2006. Among the highlights of the new report:

• Minnesota's 16 ethanol plants now have an annual production capacity of 620 million gallons;
• Five new ethanol plants under construction will add another 450 million gallons of production capacity, boosting the state's total production capacity above 1 billion by 2008; and
• If current trends hold, Minnesota's ethanol industry will generate nearly $5 billion and support more than 18,000 jobs by late 2008.

The report confirms that Minnesota is on track to meet Governor Tim Pawlenty's goal of producing enough ethanol to replace 20 percent of Minnesota's gasoline demand by 2013.

With corn prices rising to $4 per bushel in recent days, there has been some discussion about the corn supply and whether it could meet the demands from feed markets and biofuels production. The MDA report shows that despite the strong growth in renewable fuels in the last few years, Minnesota's ethanol plants still processed only 15 percent of the state's total corn crop. The majority of Minnesota corn (57 percent) was shipped out of the state as a raw commodity, while another 17 percent was used for animal feed.

According to Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson, the MDA ethanol report shows that the state's long-term investment in renewable energy is paying off in the form of jobs and economic activity for greater Minnesota.

"We've been talking for decades about the economic promise of renewable fuels," Hugoson said. "I think this report pretty clearly shows that we're now seeing a big return on that investment."

MDA prepared the report using an economic impact assessment modeling system called IMPLAN . The system allows users to project the impacts of economic developments at the state, county, and community levels. The report is available on the MDA website at http://www.mda.state.mn.us under the "Hot Topics" heading.

(Contact: Michael Schommer, 651-201-6629)