There's no word on when an idled ethanol plant in Little Falls might reopen. But plant closings are becoming more common in an industry squeezed by drought-inflated corn prices. At least seven ethanol plants in the Midwest have closed and many others are operating at reduced capacity.

The Central Minnesota Ethanol Co-Op has suspended operations until they can buy corn or sell ethanol at a better price, the St. Cloud Times reports. The Little Falls plant is using the downtime to complete maintenance and other projects, but most of the 30 employees are out of work.

Federal law requires that gasoline be blended with ethanol or other biofuels. About 40 percent of the nation's corn now goes toward ethanol production. But in a year when dry weather will mean less corn and higher prices, Minnesota's Chip Cravaack is among Congressmen urging that more of the crop be used as food.

Advanced BioEnergy, based in Bloomington, Minn., says it plans to sell its largest ethanol plant in southeast Nebraska to Flint Hills Resources, the Pioneer Press reports. The Kansas-based refiner has agreed to pay more than $170 million. Advanced BioEnergy CEO Rich Peterson told the newspaper he believes it is the highest sale price for a U.S. ethanol plant in four years.

In less than a decade, the fuel has gone from consuming 10 percent to 40 percent of the country's total grain crop. And agriculture experts tell Reuters that's likely a major driver behind rising corn prices, land prices and farm income.

Bushmills Ethanol in Atwater has agreed to pay a civil penalty after discharging polluted wastewater from 2008 and 2011 and providing false information about those discharges.

Livestock farmers and ranchers seeing their feed costs rise because of the worst drought in a quarter-century are demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency waive production requirements for corn-based ethanol. The Obama administration sees no need for a waiver, siding with corn growers – many of them in presidential election battleground states Iowa and Ohio – who continue to support the mandate.