From AgWeek

An Iowa State University agricultural economist who is famous for criticizing the ethanol fuel industry recently made his third appearance in a row at the annual North Dakota Grain Dealers convention. The entertaining economist, Dave Swenson, says he has no idea whether ethanol will be around in another 10 years, but technological feasibility doesn’t necessarily mean economic feasibility, and economic feasibility doesn’t necessarily mean environmental, political or social feasibility. “Politics often leads to sub-optimal programs and policies,” Swenson says. While the industry has been very beneficial for rural capital investment, Swenson continues to wonder “what kind of productivity are we adding to our rural space?” A specialist in rural economic development, Swenson measures this in rural jobs and notes that while ethanol plants offer a few higher-paying engineering jobs, they also displace larger numbers of workers if the grain were used as livestock feed.”