Corn business booming thanks to need for ethanol fuel

Corn production is expected to go up 34 percent to 2.15 billion bushels, thanks to an increase in interest in ethanol, a fuel based on the plant. The bad news is that as demand has gone up, so has the crop's price, from $2.25-$2.65 a bushel, up from $1.95 to $2.05 last year. The amount of corn feeding the ethanol craze is 20 percent, up from just 5 percent a few years ago. Likewise, the demand for soybeans has gone up as well, thanks to an increased interest in soybean-based diesel.

[Source: BusinessWeek]