Go to site Local business blog 'Clocking In' punches out news tips, outtakes and other morsels for people with an appetite for local business, consumer and workplace news. Construction of the $74 million fermentation and distillation plant was completed in early June, but start-up testing of the complex array of conveyer belts, funnels, pipes and tanks took about a month and a half. Hot water and enzymes are added, with the enzymes breaking starch in the corn into sugar, creating a...

A gallon of milk now costs more than a gallon of gas --and that's putting the squeeze on the ice cream shops that use milk to make ice cream and milk shakes. Recently, the price of corn has increased because it is used to make the biofuel ethanol. Corn is also used to feed cows, which has contributed to the high price of milk. More 10 Reasons To Go To School Now Have you often considered pursuing an adult education but never found enough of a reason to do so? More Look At New Home Prices...

Ball discussed the possibility of substituting corn silage for hay, since much of the areas corn crop has very low grain yield potential and could be cut for silage. The varying amounts of rain that fell across much of Alabama on June 17-18 brought hope to cattle producers who are running low on grass and hay to feed their cattle. Ball stressed it is extremely important that all corn silage or hay made from corn be tested for nitrates before feeding it to livestock. Although farmers will...

After inching up in lockstep with modest inflation at about 2.5 percent annually for a decade, prices of 100 common foods in the Consumer Price Index are forecast to rise as much as 4 percent this year and already were up 4.9 percent in May, the most recent month available. After inching up in lockstep with modest inflation at about 2.5 percent annually for a decade, prices of 100 common foods in the Consumer Price Index are forecast to rise as much as 4 percent this year and already were...

Issues facing the biodiesel industry include the high price for soy oil, the primary feedstock for biodiesel plants in Iowa, because of fewer acres planted to soybeans this year. Olson, who was senior marketing manager at the Iowa Soybean Association, said the board was created by demand from "the entire biodiesel chain" to promote biodiesel and work on industry issues and policies. Farmers are growing more corn to supply the demand for ethanol. Like its relative, the ethanol industry, the...