American drivers are saving the corn ethanol industry–for now

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the agricultural commodities giant, decided to idle two of the country’s biggest plants producing corn-based ethanol mixed into oil-based fuels to reduce their carbon intensity. A year later, American drivers are back at the gas pump, and ethanol plants are back online. Then, just as ethanol’s road ahead was beginning to look clear, another unanticipated obstacle emerged: the spot price of its key ingredient corn surged to its highest levels in a decade in May.