More Attention on Ethanol in Southeast

A Mississippi-based energy company and one of the nation’s leading agribusiness firms are teaming up to build the largest ethanol plant in the Southeast. Ergon Ethanol Inc. and Bunge North America Inc. announced the signing of a letter of intent to form a joint venture to build an ethanol plant in Mississippi with an annual capacity of at least 60 million gallons. The facility will provide a link between Bunge’s grain handling facilities, which are in Mississippi and Louisiana, and Ergon’s petroleum refining assets. To producing clean-burning ethanol, the plant will require at least 21 million bushels of corn each year, creating new markets for regional corn growers. The facility will also generate corn-based co-products, which are feed ingredients for area poultry and livestock producers.