Biodiesel and ethanol plants are getting lots of interest from investors, especially in the midwest.
According to an article in yesterday’s Des Moines Register, organizers of a biodiesel plant in Newton, IA raised $7 million in two days last week, with at least one investor driving over 200 miles across the state to put in his $25,000. According to the article, another group of organizers recently raised $20 million in a little more than a week to build a 30 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Wall Lake, IA.
Is the industry growing too big too fast? One person quoted in the article thinks so. Leland Tong of MARC-IV Consulting, which tracks the biodiesel market, warns against thinking of the industry as “the next big cash cow.”
But, Iowa State University economist Roger Ginder, a specialist in agribusiness management, disagrees – saying there is sufficient demand for biodiesel fuel and sufficient feedstocks like soybeans and animal fats to support the industry’s growth.
Good article by veteran agricultural journalist Jerry Perkins.