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Livestock industry disappointed in EPA decision
Friday morning’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency’s to deny the request to waive the corn-ethanol mandate in the Renewable Fuels Standard has livestock producers disappointed.
Gary Asay is an Illinois pork producer and a National Pork Producer’s Council board member. He says NPPC felt because the drought of 2012 was a once in a lifetime occurrence – it qualified for the RFS Waiver. “With the rise in feed prices – because of the drought here – there is a lot of financial strain on livestock producers,” he says. “There have been some that have gone out of business, deciding not to lose additional equity.”
In EPA’s comments – they noted that waiving the RFS would only decrease corn prices 1 percent. Asay tells Brownfield – that depends. “Economists have done studies on the RFS and I’ve seen releases from them that shows both sides,” he says. “Some say it would make a significant difference in the price of corn and others say it would not make much of a difference.”
But he says that isn’t the only issue. “We have a waiver that was not granted, even though it was allowed for in the original legislation,” he says. “Anyone that would try to say it wouldn’t make a difference is missing the point.”
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