There are 42 farm senators

I know I've wanted to refer to this before, and couldn't find it, so I'm posting it now (and expect to link back to it soon and often). The question is how many farm (or if you prefer, ethanol) Senators are there? One answer is here:

As former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas once explained to Texas oil baron T. Boone Pickens, “There are 21 farm states, and that’s 42 senators. Those senators want ethanol.” And the influence of those senators — 15 states now have ethanol production capacity of at least 200 million gallons per year —will be hard to overcome.

So 42 farm senators, at least 30 of whom have a sizable incentive to support the continuation of "the ethanol juggernaut." That is a formidable force to overcome.