Big oil companies have teamed up with their competition, the  farm lobby, in an effort to help up the efficiency of oil. This new alliance could wind up benefiting both agriculture and oil-related exchange traded funds (ETFs) in the long run.

The refiners seem to be saying if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Ethanol, made chiefly from corn, now represents about 9% of the country’s market for liquid fuels, explains Clifford Krause for The New York Times.

Federal mandates are only going to further push the nation’s need for ethanol. The gasoline we use in our daily lives even uses the corn-based liquid mixed within it.

So, the oil refinery interest seems to have arrived at the perfect time, as the smaller companies that need capital cannot find it these days in the private sector.

While oil minster Ali Naimi says crude demand is picking up, analysts are feeling less bullish toward crude, reports Stephen Beard for Marketplace. Inventories are reportedly on the rise, and if storage for inventory of crude runs out, the price could drop dramatically.

Oil prices today are at a six-month high of around $65 a barrel.

• PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA): up 5.8% year-to-date; corn 25%

• iShares S&P Global Energy (IXC): up 8.2% year-to-date; BP Plc 7.1%;

Tags: Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Commodity ETFs, Corn, DBA, Energy, IXC, Oil