Distillers grains flow into Canada

Distillers grains are playing an ever larger role in livestock ration formulation. It isn’t just distillers grains from local ethanol plants. The U.S., with its huge ethanol industry, is exporting large amounts of the co-product. According to the American Renewable Fuels Association, approximately 30.5 million tonnes of distillers grains were produced last year in the U.S. Of that total, a record 5.64 million tonnes worth nearly $1 billion was exported. Mexico was the top destination, with Canada ranking second. We imported over 800,000 tonnes of U.S. product. Ethanol production is often demonized as using food for fuel. However, in a typical dry mill ethanol plant, one third of the corn entering the facility is returned to the livestock feed market in the form of high-protein distillers grains. Only the starch in the grain is converted to fuel. The remaining protein, fat and other nutrients remain in the co-product. I’m Kevin Hursh.