Another Ethanol Plant Going Up In North Dakota; Other Farm News; North Dakota Plants 2/3rds Of The Nation's Canola

I am not a fan of ethanol, but as long as that's what the folks want, then we might as well take advantage of it here in North Dakota.

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

SPIRITWOOD — Officials this week plan to start construction on an ethanol plant in southeastern North Dakota that has been in the works for two years.

A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled Friday for Minnesota-based Great River Energy's Dakota Spirit AgEnergy plant at Spiritwood.

The plant will cost about $150 million to build. Production is slated to begin in January 2015. The plant will employ about 36 people and will use about 23 million bushels of corn to produce about 65 million gallons of the alternative fuel each year.

Global warming has helped the North Dakota corn industry immensely over the past decade. Meanwhile, hard spring wheat is gradually moving west, into Montana.

*******************  CANOLA ********************

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

GRAND FORKS — Mid-summer heat hurt North Dakota’s canola a year ago. But this year’s crop seems to have weathered July just fine.

“We’re very pleased with the condition of the crop,” said Barry Coleman, executive director of the Northern Plains Canola Growers Association in Bismarck.
North Dakota is the nation’s dominant canola producer. Farmers in the state planted an estimated 860,000 acres of the crop this spring, or about two-thirds of total U.S. canola acreage.

Much of North Dakota was hit by warm weather in late June and late July this year, leading to anecdotal reports that some canola fields had been hurt. Too much heat during blooming can cause flowers to abort and reduce pod formation, as was the case in July 2012.