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Full POET return touted as boon for local agriculture
CLOVERDALE — With it being the world’s largest producer of biofuels derived from corn, sustainability and investment in the local agricultural economy are at the heart of POET’s mission.
That stance was touted by POET leaders and state officials Thursday morning, as they led a ceremony to celebrate the recommencing of the bioprocessing plant in Cloverdale. The event was attended by local farmers and community leaders.
Along with General Manager Jeremy Jacobs and POET President/COO Jeff Lautt, Gov. Eric Holcomb, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Rep. Jim Baird each offered remarks on the plant’s impact within various sectors.
POET now operates 34 bioprocessing plants across eight states, which together produce three billion gallons of bioethanol per year. Indiana alone has four others in Shelbyville, Alexandria, North Manchester and Portland.
Having previously worked as an engineer at the plant, Jacobs acknowledged the pressing of responsibilities now on his shoulders.
To this, he relayed that with purchasing of corn begun, the grinding and fermentation processes are to get rolling on Tuesday. Distillation and co-product processing are set later on Sept. 11, after which the plant will produce the first gallons of bioethanol.
“This is a tremendous group of individuals,” Jacobs said of the plant’s team, which has kept the plant going since it was idled in 2019. “Most importantly, I want to thank the Cloverdale community for welcoming us with open arms.”
POET has stated investments of $30 million into new technology and upgrades to bring the plant to optimal standards. Apart from 50 more full-time jobs to be created, the plant’s annual bioethanol production is to increase to 95 million gallons.
It was a bit of déjà vu for Lautt to “welcome back” the facility, in light of how POET purchased it from a shuttered company in 2010. He noted that in his 20 years with POET, this is the first plant reopening he has overseen.
He congratulated Jacobs and the plant’s team, as, he said, they will have “a lot of fun” conducting its daily operations. He also touched on a commitment from the corporate team in Sioux Falls, S.D., where POET is based, to get it fully back online.
Lautt also praised Holcomb, Crouch and Baird as advocates of biofuels, and in supporting businesses like POET expanding into the state.
“It’s how they make it easier for companies like us to come to states like Indiana, to communities like Cloverdale,” he said. “To set up shop and to make investments, and not only to expand here, but to grow and to thrive here for decades to come.”
With much in biofuels having changed even since 2010, Lautt brought up how POET initially sought to bring E10 fuel to the forefront. As that happened, the company has expanded into markets for E15 fuel usage.
Lautt provided that POET purchases nearly a billion bushels of corn a year from 40,000 farmers. This, he said, turns into those three billion gallons of bioethanol, which in turn replaces millions of barrels of imported oil.
“But not only are we fueling the world, we’re feeding it, too,” Lautt said as something people miss about what POET does.
He added that the company also produces 14 billion pounds of dried distillers grain shipped to more than 25 countries. There is also a billion pounds of corn oil. Other products include purified alcohol and renewable carbon dioxide.
As to its name, POET is not an acronym. Rather, Lautt said, it is short, memorable and evocative, and synthesizes the company’s mission.
“Just as a poet is able to take ordinary words and turn them into moving prose, we find beauty in science and innovation,” he said. “Where others see challenges, we see opportunity, like turning that Indiana corn into valuable products.”
Holcomb cast the reopening as a milestone that was “historic,” in which “happy days are here again.” As such, he commended what he saw as a forward-leading and active approach to an evolving industry.
“I just love the partnership: Hoosier farmers growing the corn, you all growing the demand, and doing it in such a way that continues to focus on sustainability,” Holcomb said. “To help us ensure that we will be good stewards of the Good Lord’s resources, and be proud to do it.”
Holcomb provided POET’s investment as key to momentum of the biofuel sector in Indiana. To have POET continue to grow, he suggested, means a belief in promoting the local agricultural economy.
For his part, Baird reiterated Lautt’s point of POET creating products beyond bioethanol, and how its potential is a boon for local farmers producing corn.
“We’re right in the heart of the raw materials they need for their plant,” Baird said. “Agriculture is the foundation of these rural communities, and your contribution here to our local farmers is immense.”
Crouch, who also serves as the state’s agriculture and rural development secretary, declared the former as “big business” for Indiana as the eighth-largest farming state. She noted that almost half of Indiana’s corn goes toward biofuel.
Ultimately, sustainability remained a crucial component to the partnerships between POET and farmers.
“I want to thank POET for not only reopening this plant, but for investing in our Earth,” Crouch concluded, “and investing in the life that we live not only today, but that we’re going to live to tomorrow.”
