Huge corn crop helps ethanol industry argue its case

PRIMGHAR, IOWA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this month that it expects the domestic corn crop to rise to 12.954 billion bushels, up 7 percent from a year earlier and the second-biggest in history.

In Iowa, the nation’s biggest corn-producing state, evidence of the mammoth crop is everywhere. Towering green stalks blanket the landscape and are practically bursting with ears ahead of the harvest next month.