The key to continuing the ethanol boom is to boost drivers' ethanol use beyond the common ten-percent blend. That Wednesday from a panel of experts at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing in Brookings.

Senator John Thune hosted the hearing of the committee's energy subcommittee, which took testimony aimed at shaping the next farm bill.

Don Endres, chairman of ethanol maker VeraSun of Brookings, says about half the gasoline sold across the nation is blended with ten percent ethanol. But he says ethanol needs to grow from an additive into a true alternative. 



Thune says the federal Environmental Protection Agency, with the stroke of pen, could approve 20 percent or even 30 percent blends.

More than 200 people gathered at South Dakota State University for the two-hour field hearing.