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MCGA president: SAF can help stop the hemorrhaging

The president of the Michigan Corn Growers Association says sustainable aviation fuel has the potential to save family farms.

During a recent Michigan Senate committee hearing, John Delmotte explained the economic challenges he and many other farmers are facing.

“On 600 acres of corn, I’m going to lose about $80,000 on that crop this year,” he says. “I don’t know many of your constituents that are going to go to work Monday through Sunday, turn around and do it again, and not get a paycheck. But that’s kind of where we’re at.”

Delmotte is urging lawmakers to support legislation that incentivizes aviation fuel capacity and domestic feedstock production.

“When the money isn’t there, when farmers aren’t profitable, and they can’t go back and support the industries that they need, everybody loses,” he explains. “It doesn’t just stop at the farm gate.”

Sarah Gonzalez with Delta Air Lines says the airline is expected to purchase more than four billion gallons of the fuel in the next 20 years.

“Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Washington, recently, Iowa, and California have already passed SAF tax credits, and Michigan is in danger of being left out of the economic development benefits a SAF economy will bring,” she says.

Both also testified this week before a Michigan House committee calling for support of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Incentive Program Act.

The program would certify $4.5 million in production tax credits in its first year and $9 million annually for the next nine years.