During 1991 to 2000, field corn was planted on about 400,000 acres in California. About half of that area was harvested for silage for the dairy industry each year, while the other half was harvested for grain. The aver­age grain yield was about 4.6 t of grain/acre. In our analysis, we assume that the grain production from 200,000 acres will be available for use in ethanol production.

Between 1991 and 2000, the average market price for California field corn was $108/t. That price is consistent with current prices and is used in our study. With current technology, 89 gal of ethanol can be produced/ton of corn (3). Hence, we use an average feedstock cost of $1.21/gal of ethanol produced using California-grown corn.