ADM, Deere & Co. executives speak out for cellulosic ethanol

BY AMANDA MARQUART,  Medill News Service

Times of Northwest Indiana 

CHICAGO | In the midst of the ethanol craze that's benefiting both companies, the chief executive officers of Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Deere & Co. spoke up Monday on behalf of cellulosic ethanol.

Robert W. Lane, Deere CEO, said, "We're interested in cellulosic ethanol, very definitely. Corn-based ethanol is only one form of energy."

Patricia A. Woertz, CEO of ADM, said, "I care that it's all-based," mentioning the company's investments in the Brazil sugar-based ethanol industry.

They spoke Monday afternoon in a taping of WTTW's CEO Exchange at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Lane was responding to a question suggesting that Deere's interest in corn-based ethanol is antithetical to the public interest in corn as food.

Cellulosic ethanol is made from corn stalks, switch grass or other inedible plants.

In regard to the diversion of some corn production to ethanol, Lane commented, "It's not that people don't have enough food, it's that they don't have enough money to buy it," referring to less-developed nations.

Responding to a comment that large-scale use of corn for ethanol will mean higher prices for corn as food, Woertz said, "I think it's good. Prices are your friend. Higher prices attract farmers to corn and creates opportunities for more food and more fuel for the future."

Woertz added: "Oil and gas will not go away, but there's a substantive place for renewables along with nuclear energy."

ADM, a worldwide processor of corn, soybeans and other foods, is the nation's leading producer of corn-based ethanol. Deere reported recently that its sales of tractors and other farm machinery are enjoying a substantial boost from rising farm sales of corn for ethanol.

Both companies are based in Illinois -- ADM in Decatur and Deere, the world's leading manufacturer of farm equipment, in East Moline.