FALL 2009 ISSUE
Craig Ludtke thought he’d work in his family’s grain elevator business forever. Little did he know that he’d actually create a new family business that is the exclusive commodities trader and risk management provider for the nation’s largest ethanol producer.
POET has implemented anaerobic digestion technology at their pilot scale cellulosic facility in Scotland, S.D., making the process of producing cellulosic ethanol even greener.
By strategically partnering with an existing power plant, POET’s Biorefinery at Big Stone City, South Dakota has become one of the lower-cost and most environmentally-friendly producers in the ethanol industry.
Through its new IngreenuityTM initiative, POET will celebrate and promote its achievements in sustainability — and create even greater green goals for the future.
In this, the second of a three part series on the potential of corn, Vital looks at sustainability from an agriculture perspective. But it’s more than just the grower’s hand that contributes to environmental improvements — seed companies and equipment manufacturers play a large role in developing a solution.
That’s a harsh reality drivers could see plastered across gas pumps if a new program from Growth Energy gains support in Washington, D.C. Growth Energy is now championing a country of origin labeling, or COOL, requirement for all fuel sold in the United States. It aims to show the negative consequences of imported oil as well as the positive effects of “Ethanol: Made in the USA.”
South Dakota native Chad Greenway may be a hero among Minnesota Vikings football fans, but Greenway thinks the real superstars are the hard-working farmers back home who have gotten some long-overdue accolades in the wake of the ethanol boom.
