b'around the corner, Taheripour worries that there might be another COVID spike, causing a second round of stay-at-home orders that would nega-tively affect ethanol demand. However, overall, Taheripour believes theres hope for the industry.As we move towards next year, if we have some kind of vaccines and treatments, we could expect to return to a more normal supply of gaso-line use, he says. This could be a transitionary point in the market, however, and we need to have in mind the long term overall outlook for the ethanol industry.Drastic Industry ChangesNow, both parties expect to see some drastic changes87% of ethanol production,future, Taheripour says. The within the ethanol industry tomargins still look good. reason it could go down is start meeting reductions inThose technologicallybecause of the improvement in demand.savvy players are beingthe efficiency of new cars and Zuckerberg notes that oneefficient, and thats giving usBY THE NUMBERS:the movement towards more major thing on the top of hisa pretty good margin in theThe average dry mill electric cars. That would create mind right now is the excessindustry today, he says. Itethanol plant produces: less of a demand for gasoline. capacity of ethanol that waskind of goes under the phraseZuckerberg says currently, there prior to COVID-19.When life gives you lemons,2.9 gallons CoBank is only seeing about We began 2020 withmake lemonade. When youof denatured fuel ethanol a 6-7% penetration of electric about 1 billion gallons of excesscan manage the production,vehicles to be likely by 2026.capacity, he says. Now, wemake lemonade. 15.86 poundsThis is a manageable situ-expect that excess capacity toHowever, in the future,of distillers for grains ation, he says. If we think into be in the double digits. both Taheripour andanimal feed the future by 2030, that would But what does that meanZuckerberg believe there willonly bring the uptick of electric for the industry? Zuckerbergstill be some factors that could0.80 pounds vehicles up to maybe 10%, and says there might be consoli- shake up ethanol demand of corn distillers for oil forI do think that might be likely.dation. and its not COVID-19 related.animal feed and biodieselBut, Zuckerberg mentions Theres a lot of ethanolOne of the long-termproduction this is a good timeline for the plants out there who canteffects to ethanol in general isethanol industry to be able make the profit, he says.creeping up on us, Zuckerberg16.5 poundsto appraise the situation and Consolidation is likely. If thatsays. Electric vehicles. Thatsof biogenic carbon dioxide regroup. happens as we believe it, thatgoing to create some pressurefor food, beverage andOne idea is possibly to could benefit the strong play- on U.S. ethanol. chemical manufacturing have a more diverse prod-ers that are a bit more techno- The existing evidence isuct offering for the U.S. corn logically savvy. showing demand for gaso- crop, he says.He notes as well that evenline in the United States willCurrently, about 30% of though were only back up tonot grow significantly in theU.S. corn crop is dedicated to DECEMBER 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /113'