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Preserving the RFS is a piority

Defending the renewable fuel standard, the government mandated usage of ethanol in the fuel supply, is a priority for corn growers, according to Gary Marshall, the CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association. Without that mandate, fuel prices would rise and corn prices would fall creating a ripple effect in the economy, said Marshall.

“Consumers would lose money because their gasoline prices are going up; farmers would lose money, buy fewer trucks, buy fewer automobiles and machinery because they have less income themselves,” Marshall told Brownfield Ag News during the Missouri Corn Growers Association annual meeting in Jefferson City Tuesday. “It would be horrible for the U.S. economy if we lost the renewable fuel standard.”

Ethanol puts $1 billion into Missouri’s economy every year, because of corn growers’ increased income, which stimulates their buying, said Marshall.

“It’s helped farmers, I think, by first of all if they invested in the ethanol industry, they’ve made money,” said Marshall. “We’ve lowered the basis and we’ve increase the price, so it’s really benefited corn growers, but its benefited the entire state as well.”

Cattlemen are not always happy with the renewable fuels standard because of its resulting upward pressure on corn prices. But Marshall says cattle producers are essential because they use half the corn grown in Missouri. The ethanol process results in distillers grains going back into the feed supply, adds Marshall.

“And today [distillers grains are] in probably every single ton of feed for cattle, for hogs and for chickens in the state of Missouri,” said Marshall, “so it’s been a tremendous product for them to use.”

AUDIO: Gary Marshall (5 min. MP3)