Ethanol demand turns corn into a growing cash crop

STEAMBOAT ROCK, Iowa — Though surrounded by some of the nation's most fertile cropland, prosperity for this town of 336 people has been elusive. Even as farmers' corn yields have soared, Main Street has withered, losing two grocery stores, a hardware store and a cheese plant.

"They're all gone now, and that's a common story, more or less, all over this area," said Larry Meints, a local corn farmer.

Meints wants to reverse that trend. Joining 400 other farmers and local investors, he raised $34.5 million to build a distillery that last year began turning corn into motor fuel. This fall, Pine Lake Corn Processors will double capacity, as rising demand for ethanol generates a surge of cash and optimism for a new energy industry based in rural America.

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