AMI has joined a number of agriculture associations in expressing serious concerns over a new proposal from the ethanol industry that would extend the expiring ethanol blenders credit and import tariff on foreign ethanol, create new corn ethanol subsidies and change the definition of “advanced biofuels” to include corn ethanol in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).
“Although we support the need to advance renewable and alternative sources of energy, we strongly believe it is time that the mature corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities whose largest input cost is corn,” states the letters to both House and Senate leadership. “Favoring one segment of agriculture at the expense of another does not benefit agriculture as a whole or the consumers that ultimately purchase our products.”
The letter notes that ethanol production is expected to absorb 4.7 billion bushels of corn in the 2009-2010 marketing year. Ethanol use accounted for approximately 14 per cent of total corn use in 2005-2006, and that per centage is projected to grow to more than 35 per cent in 2009-2010. If the definition of “advanced biofuels,” which was clearly stated in the 2007 Energy Bill, is changed to include corn ethanol, more than 50 per cent of the US corn crop will go into ethanol production.
