Most ethanol in the US is made from corn while in Brazil its sugar cane – but wheat is the feedstock of choice for our neighbors to the north.

Husky Energy’s Lloydminster ethanol plant opened recently in Saskatchewan and is now in the process of churning out 130 million litres of ethanol a year – about 34 million gallons American – using about 350,000 tonnes of wheat.

Husky’s facility is the largest plant of its kind in Western Canada. The company also has a plant in Minnedosa, Manitoba, which has been producing ethanol from prairie grains since 1981, is currently being expanded from 10 to 130 million litres of ethanol per year. The new facility will become fully operational in mid-2007.