Study Says Ethanol Inefficient

Researchers Claim Process Uses More Energy Than It Provides

(AP) 

Ethanol is an additive blended with gasoline to reduce auto emissions and increase gas' octane levels. About 3.6 billion gallons of ethanol were produced last year in the United States, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group.

The ethanol industry claims that using 8 billion gallons of ethanol a year will allow refiners to use 2 billion fewer barrels of oil. The oil industry disputes that, saying the ethanol mandate would have negligible impact on oil imports.

In other agricultural news, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Nebraska's farm production expenditures were up 7.3 percent last year, to $9.88 billion dollars.

Expenditures per farm or ranch in Nebraska averaged $204,555 last year, up from $189,897 the year before, the USDA's Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday. Nebraska's average expenditures were more than twice the national average.

Livestock expenses accounted for 19 percent of Nebraska's total production expenditure, while feed, which can be grains, soybean or anything to feed livestock, was 15.6 percent. Rent was 12.1 percent and farm services were 9 percent.

Livestock expenses increased 5.6 percent from 2003, to average $38,923 per operation, a rate four times the national average.

The average feed expenditure was $31,884, more than twice the national average. Rent averaged nearly $24,845 and farm services $18,427, both above the national average.

The increase in expenses is largely due to the rise in costs of tractors and self-propelled farm machinery, fuels, fertilizer, feed and labor, the service said.

The country's total farm production expenditures totaled about $210.7 billion in 2004, a 5.1 percent increase from the previous year.