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Farmers spring to action on RFS

 

 

A corn industry leader says calls to action by ag groups are pressing the Trump administration’s questionable support of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The Michigan Corn Growers Association was one of the first states to urge members to contact the White House in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard in recent weeks. Executive director Jim Zook tells Brownfield as other states followed suit, leaders in Washington started to listen, and canceled a White House meeting set to discuss capping the price of Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs Monday, “We believe it was a lot to do with the pressure that we put on the White House and put on the departments as well.  However, there are still negotiations around the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

Zook says the RFS is one factor keeping corn farmers profitable in the current down farm economy, “Without the trade, without the Renewable Fuel Standard, we’d be talking about a different scenario out on the farmstead.  We’d be talking about the plight of the American farmer which is something that we went through in the ‘80s and we really don’t want to do that again.”

Zook says a recent Michigan study found the state’s ethanol industry provides more than 30 cents per bushel to the price of corn, but the uncertainly surrounding the RFS could cause at least a 25 cent drop in corn prices.

Michigan’s five ethanol facilities process as much as 40 percent of the corn grown in the state, producing 380 million gallons each year.

AUDIO: Interview with Jim Zook