High ethanol demand raises concern

Jointly the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the Iowa Pork
Producers Association (IPPA) tried to convey pork producers’ views on the
matter, while also expressing their support for the development and use of
alternative and renewable fuels.

Challenges
Several
challenges for pork producers were quoted, like diminishing maize stocks, rising
maize prices and issues with using distiller’s grains – an ethanol by-product –
in pig diets.
A study by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
(CARD) at Iowa State University found that current crude oil prices and
government policies allow the ethanol industry to pay up to $4.05 per bushel of
maize.

Subsidies
The ethanol industry receives
government subsidies of $1.53 per bushel of maize and a blender’s tax credit of
$0.51 per gallon of ethanol and there’s a federal mandate on ethanol production.
“These incentives have the ethanol industry growing at an almost unbelievable
pace,” said Gene Gourley, a pork producer and swine nutritionist from Webster
City, Iowa, testifying on behalf of NPPC and IPPA. “New plants are springing up
everywhere, and they’re using a lot of corn.”

Related
websites:
• Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
• National Pork Producers Council
• Iowa Pork Producers
Association