In Nebraska, Ethanol Policy Drives Wedge Between Cattle Ranchers, Farm Bureau Federation

[hatrack]

A debate is raging within the state and nation's agriculture industry about the high costs of food and how much ethanol is contributing to it. With Nebraska feedlot owners facing feed costs of as much as $300 per head, Nebraska Cattlemen is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the nation's renewable fuel standard (RFS) within the Clean Air Act to 4.5 billion gallons.

On the other hand, Nebraska Farm Bureau is urging EPA to deny the recent request from the State of Texas for a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). According to Nebraska Farm Bureau President Keith Olsen, "it would be short-sighted by those of us in agriculture to abandon or undermine decades of work to develop and expand a biofuels industry that is not only critical for boosting long-term demand for grains but also important in moving the U.S. closer to the goal of energy independence."

Renewable fuels aren't responsible for the higher food costs this year of the typical Fourth of July barbecue, according to FoodPriceTruth.org, a Web site administered by the New Fuels Alliance, a group funded by the ethanol industry.

EDIT

Usage will have to come down, likely in the livestock and foreign sectors, Hurt said. "The USDA has said that if the ethanol industry gets 1 billion more bushels of corn it means that the domestic livestock industry will have to cut back 16 percent in feeding corn," he said. "And then our foreign buyers will have to cut back 18 percent." Hurt said adding to the supply shortage and, ultimately, higher corn prices is the ongoing devaluation of the U.S. dollar. "Another important part in who is going to be able to pay the price for corn is the exchange rate of the dollar," Hurt said. "When their currencies are strong, the foreign sector's currency goes a long way in the United States.

EDIT

http://www.theindependent.com/news/x2010598613/Nebraska-Cattlemen-Farm-Bureau-on-opposite-ends-of-ethanol-debate

[elleng]

1. OH,

the Farmers and the Cowmen should be friends!!!!!