SD Corn

In discussing the Pro’s and Con’s of ethanol, a hot topic is always how much water it takes to produce a gallon. It might sound alarming at the time, but it never hurts to look further into the matter.

“There’s too much attention on water usage by ethanol plants,” says Sangwon Suh, assistant professor, Bioproducts/Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota.

Ever increasing improvements in technology have allowed ethanol plants to use less than 4 gallons of water/gallon of ethanol today, down from 10 gallons a couple of decade ago.

Below are a few examples of water usage that should put things in perspective:

One latte = 53 gallons

One cotton t-shirt = 400 gallons

One barrel (32 gallons) of beer = 1,500 gallons

One pair of blue jeans = 1,800 gallons

One ton of steel = 62,000 gallons

The amount of water needed to produce a gallon of conventional oil can be anywhere between 3-5 gallons of water on average. Oil produced from tar sands, like in Canada (where the United States gets a majority of its oil), uses eight gallons of water per gallon of oil doubling that of corn ethanol.

In most cases, an ethanol plant’s process water is not discharged from the facility, but recycled and reused by the boilers. Water that does leave the plant is treated and reused elsewhere or may leave the plant as part of the byproduct called distillers wet grain, a high protein livestock feed.

Biotechnology is also improving our future water use in the development of drought tolerant corn, which would cut down on the amount of irrigated acres. Although the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that 96 percent of all the corn used in ethanol production already comes from non-irrigated acres.

Renewable Fuels Association President, Bob Dinneen, said, “Ethanol producers are investing in new technologies that reduce water use, improve efficiency, and employ feedstocks in addition to grain for ethanol production.”

This increase in ethanol efficiency is providing a cost-effective, home-grown, renewable fuel giving consumers freedom of choice at the pump to both better our environment and economy.

Darrin Ihnen was born and raised on a family farm in rural Hurley, South Dakota. Agriculture is just something that has always been important in Darrin’s life.

“Darrin showed interest in farming when he was in FFA in school. He had livestock out here He had hogs and did some farrowing and he did other projects and was quite active in FFA, so that’s when I knew he wanted to be a farmer,” said Roger Ihnen, Darrin’s father.

Today, Darrin farms corn, soybeans and wheat with his father. They also have a hog finishing and a cow/calf operation. Darrin attended South Dakota State University, studying Ag Business, and he and his wife, Becky, have four children: Kelsey, Kayla, Kilee and Jacob.

Darrin’s leadership in agriculture includes being active on the South Dakota Corn Council board. Ihnen is a past president of the SDCGA and also served as Vice-President of the NCGA before his current role as President.  He is also a board member of POET Biorefining in Chancellor, S.D. Ihnen played a key role in the birth and growth of the locally owned ethanol plant.

“Darrin actually brought the producers over and they started their own group making possible the 100 million gallon, farmer-owned ethanol plant,” said Lisa Richardson, Executive Director of SDCGA. “I have watched Darrin develop into a leader who people follow…he’s a gentle giant in our industry,”

Darrin’s leadership in agriculture has been widely noted on the local, state and national level.

“Darrin’s been a great representative for South Dakota agriculture generally, but also for South Dakota Corn Growers and now, of course, for national corn growers,” said United States Senator, John Thune.

The National Corn Growers Association is the largest trade group representing corn growers in the United States. The group has more than 35,000 national members while representing 300,000 corn farmers who are members of state organizations. NCGA and its 48 affiliated state associations and check off organizations work together to create and increase opportunities for their members and their industry.

NCGA CEO, Rick Tollman, said, “We’ve had a long history of outstanding leaders in the National Corn Growers. I am impressed again that the right person seems to come to the forefront at the right time. And Darrin is among the best of those.”