How much of americas corn is used to make ethanol?

Question

Percentage would be nice... or how much corn american CAN make in total (not just for ethanol), compared with the amount it actually turned into ethanol.

Please provide website link if you used one.

Answer 1

In 2008, 25% of the US corn crop is used to make ethanol, and 98% of ethanol in US is made from corn. Next year, nearly 1/2 of the US corn will be used for ethanol.

Gasoline consumers and taxpayers are supposedly paying a premium of 25 to 60 cents per gallon of ethanol over the price of gas.

This year, 2.3% of US gasoline is ethanol. Most is used as an extender, but some is used primarily as fuel, such as for E85 (85% ethanol). Using all the current corn crop would give just under 10% of the gasoline used in the US. Since  mileage is lower for ethanol blends, the entire corn crop is currently equivalent to about 8% of the current US gasoline consumption.

Ethanol production has grown dramatically since 1980. Annual production, included estimated for 2009:

1980         175 million  gallons ethanol

1992      1,000 million gallons ethanol

2008      5,400 million gallons ethanol

2009    11,000 million gallons ethanol

Current gasoline consumption:

2008  240,000 million gal gasoline

2007 US Corn crop: 13,000 million bushels. Average of 161 bushels per acre. Dividing 1/4 of the 13billion bushels by 5,400 million gallons, each gallon of ethanol requires 0.6 bushels of corn, so each acre make 268 gal of ethanol, equivalent to 214 gallons of gasoline. Since cars in the US average 15,000 miles/yr and 20 mpg, each one requires 750 gallons of gas, or 3.5 acres of prime farmland to fuel it.

US farmland is undergoing one of the most dramatic use shifts in history, as more corn is planted. Projected 15% increase in corn next year, displacing  primarily rice and cotton.

Answer 2

A third. This is such a sad statistic. I'm sorry that I don't remember where I read this but it was easy for me to remember because I was shocked at the huge amount.

Answer 3

I think just about 3% of the corn fields are used to produce ethanol.

If you want to know more precise info check:

http://www.biotechtouch.blogspot.com/