Ethanol demands squeeze hunting grounds

As the price of corn jumps, farmers may be tempted to plow up pheasant habitats.

Gene Flynn and 11 of his hunting buddies enjoyed a great final weekend of pheasant season near Colo earlier this month.

“In the first field we went in, we got 18 birds,” said Flynn, a farmer. “I’ve never seen so many pheasants this late in the year.”

Several miles to the west of the successful hunt, Lincolnway Energy’s ethanol plant in Nevada continued producing ethanol at a 50 million-gallons-per-year pace with plans afloat to add another 100 million gallons of production in the near future, Chief Executive Officer Richard Brehm said.

The impact of increased ethanol production – and increased demand for corn, ethanol’s primarily feedstock – is fueling concern by Flynn and others that pheasant hunting might suffer.

Iowa’s ethanol industry, which has pushed corn prices to levels not seen in 10 years, is considering new plants and expansion that could boost capacity by another 1.6 billion gallons. One way to increase corn production will be to plow up land currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, known popularly as the CRP.

Des Moines Register