In the past, some corn in the Southeast has been grown for ethanol, although the closing of an ethanol producing plant in Camilla GA in 2020 reduced the market for this. A new ethanol-to-jet fuel plant in Soperton GA in 2024 may increase the market for Southeastern corn in the future. Much more corn in the Southeast is used for animal feed and seed production.
A new study described in Anthropocene this month shows that it would require about 31 hectares’ worth of corn ethanol to produce the same amount of energy generated by one hectare of land covered in solar panels. This could be a much bigger impact in the Midwestern Corn Belt, where a significant fraction of corn production is used for ethanol, than it is in the Southeast. It is also something to consider when farmers consider whether increasing ethanol production in the Southeast would be a good use of land in the future. This article does not address the ethanol subsidies and other non-agricultural policies on ethanol that are currently in place, just compares the amount of energy produced by each system. You can read more about it at https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/04/new-study-compares-growing-corn-for-energy-to-solar-production-its-no-contest/.
