Building Markets: Kansas Corn Hosts European Ethanol Team

Building Markets: Kansas Corn Hosts European Ethanol Team

Kansas Corn helped host a group from Portugal and Italy this week to explore opportunities for expanding ethanol use in the EU. Sponsored by the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC), the visit focused on two markets with the potential to increase ethanol blending levels and imports of U.S. ethanol.

Ethanol currently accounts for only 1-2% of the gasoline blend in Italy and Portugal. These market development efforts aim to encourage adoption of the EU fuel standards which open the door for E10 as the baseline fuel.

"This visit is the result of an initial meeting USGBC and I had with these officials in April of this year," said Kansas Corn CEO Josh Roe. "That initial meeting piqued their interest in our sustainability practices and the circular economy connecting farmers, ethanol plants and food production through ethanol coproducts."

The three-day visit to southwest Kansas included stops at the Arkalon ethanol plant in Liberal and the Bonanza ethanol plant in Garden City to see the ethanol production process firsthand. To learn about production practices such as cover crops, grazing, water conservation, crop rotations and precision agriculture, the team visited four farms: southwest Kansas Corn Commissioner Paige Clawson's farm in Satanta, Ormiston Farms/Ranch in Kismet, Vulgamore Family Farms in Scott City and T&O Farm/Ranch in Garden City, where the group was able to see the John Deere prototype E98 tractor.

Understanding ethanol's role in producing both feed and fuel was another focus of the visit. Stops at High Plains Dairy in Plains and Cactus Feeders in Ulysses highlighted the value of distillers grains, a coproduct of ethanol production, in producing meat and dairy products.

The U.S. exported 1.62 billion gallons of ethanol from January through August 2026, up 12% from the same period in 2025. Full-year ethanol exports set a record of 2.18 billion gallons in 2025. With each bushel of corn producing approximately 2.8 gallons of ethanol, expanding international demand creates valuable markets for Kansas corn farmers.