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Galvanizing support for the RFS

The CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association says the EPA should leave the Renewable Fuels Standard for ethanol alone.

At the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture Gary Marshall told Brownfield Ag News that the Environmental Protection Agency is challenging the integrity of the RFS by changing the numbers, “Those numbers were set by Congress. They should not have been changed. I think the White House bailed on us because of pressure from the oil industry. What we’re doing now is putting comments back to the EPA telling them why they need to leave those numbers the way that Congress intended them to be.”

Marshall says corn prices are already 50-percent below their highs this past year and if the EPA’s lower RFS numbers are realized it would be devastating to growers and to ethanol, plus, it would raise prices for consumers.

Marshall tells Brownfield there is also support for leaving the RFS alone from the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, “We’ve never seen higher cattle prices. Those folks are making money. That’s great, that’s fantastic. That’s what we want. We want to see ALL the ships on the ocean of profitability rise together so we’re going to work together to make sure that we keep the RFS as it is.”

He says Missouri Corn Growers’ outreach – urging folks to comment on the reduced RFS proposal – has galvanized the group, “We’re excited because we think we have several thousand comments coming in from Missouri. Not only that, but we’ve gained over 225 new members.”

The public comment period on the EPA’s proposal to reduce the RFS closes Tuesday, January 28th, 2014.

Interview with Gary Marshall at the Governor’s Conference on Agriculture (4:00 mp3)

Missouri Corn Growers Association – Stand Your Ground or Lose it. Don’t Mess with the RFS