One thing I didn't mention and most non farmers don't realize is, American farmers combine corn (strip the cobs of kernels and leave the stalks and stripped cobs in the field) and the majority of the alcohol producing sugar is actually in the stalk itself. European corn growers that grow e-corn chop the entire plant, cob, kernels and stalks and all of it goes to the distiller.
The other issue is, distillers are particular about varieties of corn grown. IOW, corn grown for food production and e-corn are 2 different animals and distillers like to control pricing as in cheap.
What happened here. The distiller went out of business when local farmers were told they had to grow specific varieties and sell to them at a low ball price. Once that went down and local farmers realized food grade corn paid much better at the elevator, the local distiller folded.
Finally, it's a well proven and documented fact that it takes more energy to produce a gallon of corn alcohol than that gallon produces in realized energy, which is why all distillers need gummit subsidies to stay in business.
You pay twice. Once in taxes and then again at the pump.