The capitalation of the whole ethanol industry is peanuts.. 16 byn gallons x say $2 = 32 Billion.

Retail fuel stations are $$$ like 2 or 3 million per pop now.. if ya want to be competitive.. or more.

There's over 150,000 in the US.. so say $3 million per store.. that's 150,000 x $3 million = $450 Billion.. yup.. farmers and others ponied up $32 Billion but SHOULD have sunk another 50 to 100 billion to buy up retail outlets.. golly wonder why that didn't happen?

https://www.convenience.org/Topics/Fuels/Fueling-America

Store Stats
Convenience stores sell about 80% of all fuel sold in the United States. There are more than 152,000 convenience stores in the United States, and approximately 122,000 of those locations sell fuel, according the latest NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count.

Overall, about 60% of the convenience stores selling fuel are single-store operators. Many of these small businesses may not have the resources to brand their stores separately from the brand of fuel they sell and promote on their canopies, often leading to consumer misperceptions that they are businesses owned and operated by a major oil company.

Profit Breakdown
U.S. convenience stores sales overall surged 8.9% to $654.3 billion in 2018, led by a 13.2% increase in fuel sales, which account for about 70% of total sales. Higher gas prices, up 13.7% from $2.37 per gallon in 2017 to $2.69 per gallon in 2018, contributed to the increase in overall industry sales. Fuel margins, which have increased over the last five years, were also higher in 2018, up 7.5% to 23.35 cents per gallon, while gallons sold decreased by 0.4%. (NACS State of the Industry Report of 2018 Data)

Due to the volatility in the wholesale price of gasoline and the competitive structure of the market, retailers typically see profitability decrease as prices rise, and increase when prices fall. On average, it costs a retailer about 12 to 16 cents to sell a gallon of gasoline. Using the five-year average markup of 22.1 cents, the typical retailer averages about 5 to 10 cents per gallon in profit. (Retailer costs to sell fuel include credit card fees, utilities, rent and amortization of equipment.)

Over the course of a year, retail profits (or even losses) on fuels can vary wildly. In some cases, a few great weeks can make up for an otherwise dreadful year—or vice versa.

While selling Gasoline is almost a Loss Leader to get consumers into a store to sell them a Candy Bar.. where the markup is.  Kind of repeating but from a different source.

https://www.omegawv.com/faq/140-how-much-money-do-businesses-make-on-fuel-purchases.html

Retailers Make Very Little Selling Gas

Generally, the markup (or “margin”) on a gallon of gas is about 15 cents per gallon (gross profit before expenses). Factoring in expenses, which include rent, utilities, freight, labor and credit card fees, a retailer is left with about 2 cents per gallon in profit. Stores sell an average of 4,000 gallons per day, so retailers typically make about $100 per day selling gas (net profit available to pay other costs not previously referenced such as maintenance and insurance). Margins can vary wildly throughout the year. When wholesale prices climb, retailers typically hold back price increases, knowing that price-sensitive customers will go somewhere else to buy their fuel – and other items inside the store. This often leads to a situation where retailers will lose money on every gallon they sell. When wholesale prices fall, retailers seek to extend margins to compensate for lost margins when prices were rising.

Today, retailers cannot run their business on gas sales alone. While 68 percent of a typical store’s sales dollars in 2008 came from selling gas, less than 27 percent of their profit dollars came from fuel.

Quite simply, they have two tough choices, either keep gas margins at traditional levels and know they will lose customers if they are priced higher than the competition, or eat margins to keep gas customers (and in-store customers). If there are no gas customers, there are no in-store customers.

The Good news is that most retailers are independent of the oil companies and if we position ourselves correctly we can move more ethanol at cheaper values to the consumer which will help independent increase their margins.

hmmm...

Meanwhile Big Oil isn't going to just hand market share over..