Cattlemen are against
subsidized ethanol
By Jim Stafford
Business Writer
The Oklahoman
August 1, 2008
The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association bolstered its stance
against a subsidized ethanol industry Thursday when its Beef Production
Committee adopted a resolution that stated its opposition.
In a meeting on the opening day of the group's 56th annual
convention at the
Cattlemen don't oppose the use of corn-based ethanol as an
alternative fuel, said Scott Dewald, executive vice
president of the association. But they do oppose tax credits and tariffs on
foreign ethanol that subsidize the industry and encourage more use of corn as
the fuel source.
"What our guys really want is for ethanol to stand on
its on two feet without the tax credit and the tariffs,” Dewald
said.
Scaling back ethanol mandate
Congress has mandated use of about 9 billion gallons of
grain-based ethanol by the end of 2008, a number that eventually will grow to
15 billion gallons, said Derrell Peel, a professor
and extension livestock specialist at
Mix in other forms of biofuels and
the number is supposed to be 26 billion gallons by 2022, Peel said.
"Subsidies have always been a sore point with the
cattle industry, and it really became a sore point when ethanol took off,” Peel
said. "That's a consistent cattle industry position. They perceive
themselves to be a very free market-based industry.”
As ethanol production has increased, the price of corn as a
key ingredient in cattle feed has increased, Dewald
said. It hurts the entire cattle industry supply chain. "It's not just
feed though,” Dewald said. "We find ourselves in
a situation where we are facing $4 diesel fuel, we're facing fertilizer costs
that are out of the world, and all of our input prices have gone up. It's
getting very, very difficult to make a living in the cattle business today.”
The cattle industry wants the Environmental Protection
Industry to scale back mandates for ethanol use, Dewald
said. Congress provided some leeway when it passed the bill the mandated
ethanol use as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Costs exceed expectations
The Beef Production Committee made an amendment to the ethanol resolution before adopting it as one of about three dozen resolutions the full group will vote on in a business meeting before the convention concludes. The committee took out a reference to ethanol tax subsidies artificially raising feed grain prices up to 50 cents per bushel.
"Three years ago when passed the resolution, we thought
it was going to impact the cost by 50 cents a bushel,” Dewald
said. "It impacted the cost far more than that so we removed the 50 cents
a bushel. You could say the costs have exceeded our expectations.”
The Beef Production Committee also heard a presentation from
state Conservationist Ron Hilliard, who outlined the impact that the latest
farm bill would have on three programs often used by cattle producers to
control brush and protect grassland areas.
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