**4. Conclusions**

The impact of ethanol plants on corn prices and corn acreage has been the topic of various studies. This study investigates a phenomenon observed between counties with ethanol plants and those without ethanol plants. That is, the average corn revenues in counties with an ethanol plant are higher than in counties without, at similar corn prices. Non-spatial and spatial di fference-in-di fferences models are estimated using ARMS data. The models account for changes over two-years in corn contract revenues and estimate the impact of ethanol plants on local corn contract revenues. The e ffect from the presence of ethanol plants on the corn contract revenues in their counties was inconclusive. The higher revenues observed are probably due to factors related to the operator (i.e., capital and tenure), size of the operation, and characteristics of the county. Results sugges<sup>t</sup> that ethanol plants may be located in areas with competitive advantage in corn production (i.e., areas specialized in corn production and with higher corn yields). While we do not see a statistically significant impact from ethanol plants on corn revenue in the county where the ethanol plant is located, we do see a positive impact in adjacent counties. It is likely that although the county where the ethanol plant is located may have a competitive advantage in corn production, its neighbors may not. As such, neighboring counties face gains in revenues with the location of the ethanol plant.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, A.L.K. and A.C.S.A; methodology, A.L.K and A.C.S.A; data curation, A.L.K and A.C.S.A; formal analysis, A.L.K and A.C.S.A; writing—original draft preparation, A.L.K and A.C.S.A; writing—review and editing, A.L.K and A.C.S.A; visualization, A.C.S.A; supervision, A.L.K.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** We thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor. We thank the comments given by those present at the 2019 Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Meeting. We thank Assistant Professor of Geography Dr. Gabriel Granco for his suggestions for the spatial weight matrix.

**Conflicts of Interest:** No conflicts of interest to declare.
