COLUMBIA – On Thursday, February 7, 2002, the leaders of the Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) and the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council (MCMC) announced the completion of a statewide study to determine employment and economic benefits of ethanol fuel production in Missouri. Dr. Donald Van Dyne, retired Research Associate Professor of the University of Missouri-Columbia, presented the results of his independent study to farmers and public policy makers gathered at the Show-Me Ag Classic in Columbia, Missouri. MCGA and MCMC commissioned the study in November to help quantify the impact of current and planned ethanol production in the state.

"Economic analysis by Dr. Van Dyne in the early 1990s helped Missouri farmers and public policy makers understand the potential for ethanol production in the state," explains Brent Rockhold, MCGA President and farmer from Arbela, Missouri. "However, in recent years, some in and out of agriculture have questioned the true impact of the two current farmer-owned ethanol plants in Missouri. Thus, we felt it was time to commission a statewide study to document the employment and economic benefits of Missouri ethanol production."

The three-month, in-depth study evaluated direct and indirect benefits of ethanol production in Missouri using actual financial results from the plants and a sophisticated input-output statistical model called IMPLAN. IMPLAN is a standard model used by public and private entities to estimate the additional jobs and economic benefits created by new businesses. For this study, IMPLAN was used to determine changes in employment, personal income and economic activity for geographic regions based on actual and expected sales of ethanol, distillers dried grains and carbon dioxide.

According to Dr. Van Dyne, "The two ethanol plants in north Missouri have added significant direct benefits to Missouri, with the Macon plant adding almost $14 million and the Craig plant adding slightly over $10 million this past year. The direct and indirect impacts of the two plants, each producing 22 million gallons of ethanol annually, have major positive impacts on the north Missouri economies, including: process and add value to almost 16 million bushels of corn annually, 1,815 additional jobs, $172.8 million increase in total output, and tax revenues of $17.7 million."

"One of the most exciting things from my perspective is the documented impact to agriculture," says Sam Creed, MCMC Chairman and farmer from Fairfax, MO. "According to the Van Dyne study, the total direct benefits of the Northeast Missouri Grain plant represents an increase of about $0.50 per bushel for all of the 27.8 million bushels of corn produced in the 9-county region surrounding the plant. The total benefits of the Golden Triangle Energy plant is an increase of about $0.23 per bushel for each of the 44 million bushels of corn produced in the 4-county region of northwest Missouri. It was obviously a good use of corn check-off dollars to support the development of the two plants in the mid-1990s."

"We also asked Dr. Van Dyne to analyze the potential impacts if the industry grows to five plants of 40 million gallons, as recommended in an earlier independent analysis for our organizations," explains Gary Marshall, MCGA and MCMC CEO. "The Van Dyne study documents that with five ethanol plants the estimated direct and indirect impacts include the creation of 8,890 new jobs, $845 million increase in total output and over $87 million in new federal and state tax revenues annually. This study documents a nearly $1 billion total impact and what some of us in the industry have believed all along – that ethanol can cause a renewal in agriculture and rural Missouri and benefit the entire state economy."

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