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The Monsanto Company, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, recently announced a multi-million dollar, two-year partnership among General Motors and the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition to establish new E85 fueling locations and to deliver improved corn for the dry mill ethanol industry. Representatives from each of the organizations spoke about the “Fuel Your Profits” program at the 50^th Annual Farm Progress Show in Henning, Illinois. “As a part of this initative, Monsanto is launching a new program titled ‘Fuel Your Profits’,” said Amy Rutherford, Monsanto’s Processor Preferred Business Manager. “This is a processor preferred high fermentable corn solutions package offering to dry mill ethanol plants and corn growers. Growers can participate in the program by first selecting an enrolled dry mill ethanol plant then commit to planting and delivering the grain from Processor Preferred high fermentable corn hybrids over the next two years.” After committing their plants, producers will then be eligible to receive discounts on General Motors’ flexible-fuel vehicles and an E85 fueling location. "We wanted to provide a synergistic way that corn growers and ethanol plants could use Monsanto's advancement in research while increasing ethanol demand and expanding the ethanol fuel infrastructure in our country," said Rutherford. “The 'Fuel Your Profits' program was designed as a new way to increase the profitability potential of corn growers and ethanol plants." According to John Gaydash, General Motors Director, Marketing of GM Fleet and Commercial Operations, "General Motors has more than one million vehicles on the road today capable of burning E85. We have demonstrated our interest in increasing ethanol demand through our E85 awareness efforts with NEVC. 'Fuel Your Profits' ties nicely with these efforts." Phil Lampert, Executive Director of NEVC agrees. "The NEVC is proud to be a part of the 'Fuel Your Profits' collaboration. We remain committed to advancing ethanol, E85 use and the ethanol industry's infrastructure so that our nation can utilize this renewable resource. This outstanding program with Monsanto and GM will increase availability of E85 fueling sites while also increasing demand for E85 via farmer acquisition of 85 percent ethanol powered vehicles produced by General Motors that will be made available at a discount to the participating growers. This is the type of partnership that the NEVC was established to advance and we are extremely fortunate to be able to assist in this effort."	Monsanto's wrapped a GM E85 compatible truck displayed it at the Farm Progress Show.
	Representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, General Motors, NEVC, and Monsanto in front of the mock E85 pump at the Farm Progress show.

Flexing More Fuel Muscle

-by Mark S. Johnson of Cooperative Partners Online Around Danvers, Minnesota, John Carruth (shown left with Joel James, assistant manager of Glacial Plains Cooperative in Benson, Minnesota) is known as a standup guy. Honest and hard working, a pillar of the community, he built the 4,000-acre farming operation now operated by his three sons. Over his 71 years he’s been on more local, state and national boards than he can remember. But when it comes to promoting and using ethanol and the new E85 blend, Carruth has been known to engage in a bit of subterfuge. “My wife Elaine doesn’t know it, but she’s running E85 in her car,” says Carruth. “We’ve got a couple of flex-fuel vehicles and I use it about half-and-half in my Ford Ranger pickup. The truck isn’t equipped for ethanol-based fuel; and it works just fine.” E85—“E” stands for ethanol and “85” for 85 percent content—is a blended fuel made from domestically produced corn. Extensive testing has shown that E85 performs comparably to gasoline and is usually priced well below unleaded regular gasoline. Octane ratings for E85 are between 100 and 105. Joel James is also enthusiastic about the growth and future of E85. “We pumped our first gallon of E85 in January 2000,” James says. “Even before we put the pumps in Appleton, Minnesota this year, we were pushing 200 customers. “We’re going after the flex-fuel vehicles. One big potential market is government and post office vehicles. There are some company motor pools that can use it and, of course, farm vehicles.” Flex-Fuel Base Grows James adds that the potential customer base grows every year as auto-makers, particularly “the big three,” produce more flex-fuel vehicles. “A lot of people are driving flex-fuel cars and don’t know it,” James adds. “The driver’s manual will tell them, or there’s a notice inside the fuel filler cover and a little green leaf on the back of the car. A good example is the Mercury Sable.” Flex-fuel vehicles have a sensor in the fuel line that lets the engine computer know how much oxygen is in the fuel being burned. A big incentive for local cooperatives that opt to offer E85 is minimal infrastructure change. “Basically, we installed a new tank in Benson,” James says. “It’s double-walled and in Appleton we’re using an existing below-ground tank. And there’s some signage that has to change” when you offer E85. Ethanol-gasoline blends also change with the seasons, says James, with more gasoline in the mix in winter to help with vehicle starting. But E85 can be transported in existing tank trucks with minor precautions throughout the year. “We have to make sure no trace of diesel gets into the ethanol,” he says. “We make sure that it goes into a compartment that held gasoline previously. If there’s been diesel in a tank, we just run a tank of gas through before we put in E85.” E85 pumps are plainly marked, letting drivers of non-flex vehicles know what they contain. Cautions are also placed on nozzle covers. But James says there have been no problems at either of his locations with E85 being mistakenly used in non-flex-fuel vehicles. E85 locations are most common in Midwestern states where the basic component is readily available. But more and more pumps are going up in the Northeast and other areas of the United States. The interest doesn’t stop there. “I was approached by Mercedes-Benz about a month ago,” reports James. “They were sending engineers from Germany to work on flex-fuel vehicles. They asked me to ship product to Beatty, Nev., and Littleton, Colo. “I’ve also been approached by the Wissota Racing Association. They have approved up to 85 percent ethanol for racing, and we’re drumming it up as E85 racing fuel. “I really like promoting E85,” James adds. “It’s good for the farmers and the environment and I’m really proud of the co-op system for taking the lead in this. I’d much rather have the price of corn go up than the price of foreign oil.” “As farmers, we know how to grow corn,” adds Carruth. “I was just looking at some of our irrigated corn, and it’s going to run 200-plus. The only problem we have with ethanol is knowing how to market it. And we’re doing a lot better at that.” If you’re interested in learning more about E85, the Iowa Department of Agriculture offers a list of vehicles that accept E85 and E85 locations at www.e85fuel.com. Ask for Flex Option General Manager Keith Hainy, North Central Farmers Elevator, Ipswich, South Dakota, says automakers need to do a better job of marketing flex-fuel vehicles. “We bought three new pickups for the co-op in January, and I wasn’t aware the E85 option was available on them,” Hainy says. “When I asked the salesman about it later, he didn’t know about it either.” Hainy adds it would have cost just $200 to purchase the flex-fuel option with a new vehicle, but retrofitting the pickups would be much more expensive. North Central Farmers will be installing an E85 pump in the near future, and Hainy says all its future vehicles will have the flex-fuel option.

E85 For your Automobile - an article submitted by Harriet Reiss of Minneapolis, Minnesota

E85 For your Automobile
- an article submitted by Harriet Reiss of Minneapolis, Minnesota