The people at the plant were so busy, they didn't have time to show me around.

I was simply told to sign myself in, grab a helmet, and look around on my own...

One year ago, I flew to Iowa and toured a large ethanol plant. It was harvest time, and farmers were bringing in the corn crop.

Ethanol plants buy millions and millions of bushels of corn at harvest time every year. They clean, thresh, dust, and store the corn in a sandbox the size of a football field. Here's a picture I took of the corn pile:

You can only see one fifth of the pile. The plants had already packed most of the corn under plastic tarpaulins to the right of the picture.

Ethanol plants turn this corn into fuel for automobiles.

At the time of my visit, ethanol was a darling. Investors loved it, farmers loved it, politicians loved it, and conservationists loved it. When people find out what I do for a living, they always ask me what I think of the current investment fad. Last year, the question was always, "So what do you think of ethanol, Tom?"

It's amazing how fast public sentiment can change:

Here's the thing. Yesterday I received an e-mail from my Iowa farmland contact. He grows corn and raises hogs in Sioux County. He says the time is right to start investing in ethanol again. He gives four reasons:

In sum, ethanol was a darling. Now the crowd hates it. Contrarian investors can take advantage of the negative sentiment and buy stock in ethanol producers.

The biggest ethanol company in the Midwest is VeraSun Energy, and you have many other candidates for this trade as well.

To be honest, I'd rather keep my money in safer, more stable industries than ethanol. But I can tell you many people who have everyday dealings with this industry are buying ethanol shares. If you choose to speculate with them, just remember: Fortunes in this industry can change very quickly.

Good investing,

Tom