Demand for ethanol is shifting Midwest acreage away from soybeans and into corn, according to a University of Missouri agricultural economist.

“Ethanol has major implications for corn acreage,” Pat Westhoff with the MU Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute said in an MU press release. New FAPRI projections indicate fewer acres planted to soybeans and wheat as more acres are planted to corn to meet ethanol demand.

“Ethanol production has doubled in the last four years and is projected to double again over the next four years,” Westhoff told the annual Breimyer Seminar on the MU campus this week. The theme of the agricultural policy discussion was “BioFuels: An Agricultural Revolution?”

Westhoff’s power point presentation can be viewed on the FAPRI website.