On Monday, November 7, the farmer-leaders of southeast Missouri announced Bootheel Agri-Energy, a pioneering effort to build an innovative 100 million gallon, coal-fired ethanol plant. Near as I can tell, 100 million gallons a year is about the most any ethanol plant in the country produces, and it’s twice the capacity of any already operating or planned for Missouri. Missouri Corn Merchandising Council chairman Mike Geske, a farmer from the bootheel area, says they are very excited about the plans for an ethanol plant in that region. “There’s a lot of production down here – one of the largest corn production areas in the state. It was very much a gap in our ethanol production ability in the state of Missouri.” I interviewed Mike about the plans for this week’s Missouri Corn Growers CornTalk.