AbstractField experiments were conducted during 1980‐82 at the Agronomy Farm of the University of California, Davis, to compare fermentable carbohydrate production and cost of potential ethanol from fodderbeet, sweet sorghum, sugarbeet, and corn in relation to the requirements of these crops for fertilizer nitrogen and irrigation. The response of hexose yields of these crops to fertilizer N varied in the two experiments. When all crops responded, sweet sorghum and sugarbeet required 36 % and fodderbeet 68 % of the fertilizer N needed for corn. Twelve weeks following a mid‐season irrigation cut off, hexose yield of sugarbeet was decreased by 18 % as compared to an adequately watered crop. Water stressed sweet sorghum extracted higher amounts of soil moisture, increased in hexose concentration and produced 29 % higher hexose yield than when adequately watered. Stressed sugarbeet, however, had a higher hexose yield due to its higher sugar concentration.When fertilized and irrigated adequately, fodderbeet produced 13.4, sugarbeet 11.9, sweet sorghum 10.0, and corn 8.15 Mg hexose ha−1. Comparative on‐farm ethanol production costs of these four crops were very close ($0.38 to 0.40 L−1). Thus, growing established crops like corn and sugarbeet for which processing facilities and alternative markets already exist would be