Frick Services, in the business of shipping fertilizer, saw business spike in recent months.
Fertilizer shipments increased between 15 and 20 percent at the company's Port of Indiana/Burns Harbor location, climbing by 200,000 tons, company vice president Dan Frick said.
"It's been a good year from a tonnage standpoint," Frick said.
A big part of the reason is that the nation's farmers have shifted more acreage to corn this year, in part to meet a growing demand for corn for ethanol production.
"Any commodity that experiences an increase in demand is going to push prices higher," he said. "That has encouraged people to plant more."
Driven by higher corn prices, farmers are using more fertilizer to maximize yields, said Frick, whose Burns Harbor plant employs 14 people involved in shipping bulk commodities including industrial chemicals and road salt.
The state's growing biofuels industry, including 12 new ethanol plants, will create 620 new jobs for Hoosier workers, according to the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.
The industry, which includes four new plants for making biodiesel, a clean burning domestically produced diesel fuel, will put at least $29.5 million into local farmer pockets and invest more than $1.47 billion in capital expenses, according to the state Agriculture Department.
With corn acreage up by nearly 20 percent across the nation, including in Indiana, grain storage space stands a chance of running out.
That has heated up sales at Indiana Farm Systems Inc., a grain bin builder.
Salesman Chris Schultz said demand for storage bins drove business up by 50 percent this year for the company, which has facilities in Rensselaer and near Kokomo.
The company has been "totally swamped," he said.
The company's two locations have constructed about 50 new bins so far this year. And with harvest approaching, "we've got six or seven" more to get up, Schultz said.
Growth in the ethanol industry spurred orders for Union Tank Car Co. and prompted additional hiring last year at the company's East Chicago plant.
The plant's employment level jumped to about 600 from 570 in late 2005. The plant had 245 workers four years ago.
Union Tank Car plants in Texas and Louisiana, as well as East Chicago, have been building tank cars at capacity, company spokesman Bruce Winslow said.
The company is beefing up its fleet of tank cars capable of hauling 30,000 gallons of ethanol to refineries from ethanol production plants, Winslow said.
"Prior to the need for ethanol, we had that car in our fleet, but just not enough of them," Winslow said.
To meet the growing need, "we've increased our manufacturing employment considerably," Winslow said. "We built a whole new plant, which has been a full production for a year now in Louisiana.
"And we've streamlined production at two others plants in East Chicago and Sheldon, Louisiana," he said.
Production shows no signs of slowing down, Winslow said.
"In the future, every new ethanol plant will require a number of ethanol tank cars, because the way the product is moved to the refinery is by tank car," Winslow said.
"As the number of ethanol plants increase, the demand for ethanol tank cars will increase," he said.
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