An opinion piece in the Fort Worth Star Telegram said Texas could be poised to become a strong part of the ethanol industry on the strength of its improved sugar beet crops.

New hybrid tropical varieties of sugar beets are available in west Texas and there are projects underway to grow the variety in northern and central.

"The time for sugar beets is right and the demand for ethanol is driving it," the Star Telegram said. "Yield per acre of ethanol from sugar beets can be as much as six times that for corn. The lower land and labor costs in Mexico allow for a reasonable profit for ethanol production, for everyone along the supply chain."

Imperial Sugar, based in Sugar Land, Texas, thrived by refining sugar from the beets grown in west Texas and cane in the Rio Grande Valley. That was until federal corn subsidies made high-fructose corn syrup cheaper than sugar.

Levelland/Hockley County Ethanol now is online in Levelland, Texas just west of Lubbock. It uses milo, sorghum and corn. It has a potential capacity of 40 million gallons. Another plant is in the works in Rio Grande Valley.

(Fort Worth Star Telegram opinion, Sept. 13, 2009)

(http://www.star-telegram.com/…)

DTN: Texas poses some interesting potential when it comes to ethanol production. Though the state has a large cattle industry, a corn-based ethanol industry that could provide distillers grains as a feed faces a stiff challenge in getting off the ground because corn is hard to come by in that region. However, there is good potential to produce ethanol in Texas using sugarcane and sugar beets because of the year-round favorable climate. In addition, ethanol produced in Texas is close to end-users such as gasoline refiners, so the market potential is good. (Todd Neeley)