What Is Ethanol and Its Connection to Corn?

You may not be able to eat it, but ethanol helps farmers get their food products to the table – both as fuel and as feed for animals.

Ethanol, a renewable fuel, is a grain alcohol that can be produced from crops, such as corn. For every bushel of corn entering an ethanol plant, two-thirds of it exits as fuel while one-third becomes a livestock feed called distillers dried grains.

Many gas stations provide a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline for use in all vehicles. Flex-fuel vehicles have been modified to accept higher ethanol blends. Most ethanol in the United States is made from corn, because of farmers’ productivity.