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Ag groups react to President Biden’s State of Union Address
Ag groups have mixed reactions to President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association tells Brownfield the President mentioned many problems facing America like high gas prices, the invasion in Ukraine, and inflation. “And in our view, agriculture and ethanol can provide solutions. We can help with many of those problems. We just need to be given the opportunity.”
Cooper says instead of releasing oil from the strategic reserves, the U.S. should be releasing the productivity and ingenuity of American farmers and ethanol producers. “If you really want to get Putin’s attention, we think you’ve got to put sanctions on his oil and gas exports, right? We get about 600-thousand barrels a day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia and that means we’re sending about 60-million dollars per day to a country that is attacking our friends in Ukraine, and we think that’s gotta stop.”
Cooper says the U.S. has 200-thousand barrels per day of ethanol production that is sitting idle right now that could quickly be brought back online to replace imports from Russia.
Cooper says Biden talked about electrical vehicle charging stations, but that doesn’t solve the problems that are facing Americans today like high gas prices and inflation. “We don’t need to make massive investments in the electrical grid and EV infrastructure to reduce emissions and bring down transportation costs for American families. We can cut costs and slash emissions immediately through the increased use of ethanol, which would require only modest investments and modifications to our current infrastructure.”
National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Chandler Goule tells Brownfield following the speech, he’s concerned about geopolitical stability and volatility in the markets with the Russia/Ukraine conflict. “U.S wheat growers are going to be impacted by the invasion,” he says. “I was thankful to hear the President and to see both Republicans and Democrats standing in unity and support.”
Goule says he’s concerned about continued supply chain issues but thankful that the President is continuing to work to solve these issues.
And, he says he wasn’t surprised that the President didn’t focus on agriculture more. “It is a little too early really for a President to talk about the Farm Bill in the State of the Union, but I would be very concerned if the President doesn’t mention it next year since it is up for reauthorization.”
He says NAWG will continue to work with the Administration and lawmakers on policies that support farmers and recognize the uniqueness of wheat.
Brownfield’s Nicole Heslip and Larry Lee contributed to this story.
Ethanol production from corn is KNOWN to cause starvation because countries use the corn to make ethanol and it uses up the corn food supply. Considering the fact we have drought and supply disruptions already expected to decrease corn, wheat , cattle, pig……probably chicken ….. we best be very careful about what we do with our food supply