Agricultural News
Scrapping the Ethanol Mandate Suits Michael Kelsey Just Fine
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 03:54:56 CST
Last week, Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Dianne Feinstein of California rolled out their legislative proposal that could eliminate the Federal government mandate for corn ethanol within the Renewable Fuel Standard. What they have proposed is really not new at all within the ethanol debate- in fact- it lines up almost perfectly with what the livestock industry has been calling for since corn skyrocketed a couple of years ago to over eight dollars a bushel.
In the camp of wanting to see an end of the ethanol mandate is the Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, Michael Kelsey. In an interview with Kelsey, he says letting the market decide on how a bushel of corn will be used in this country is something that the cattle industry has been interested in for years. He tells us that this is not just a cattle thing- but truly a point that unites the livestock industry across several species.
"We're very much united on this. Speaking for my brothers and sisters, we're pretty much in agreement: When the government comes into the market place and starts establishing artificial supply or demand-and, in this case, an artificial demand-it really jukes the market up, if you will. It throws it off. And we're even seeing supplemental effects beyond just the price of corn in terms of forage availability and those types of things. We would just really like to see ethanol policy be eliminated altogether--not ethanol, we don't have anything against ethanol and nothing against competition in the market-but let's have natural competition where consumers have an affinity for a product and they purchase it, in this case ethanol over something else rather than a government policy that establishes an artificial demand."
Kelsey says that the industry is pleased that the Environmental Protection Agency is considering a modest roll back of the number of gallons of ethanol that would be mandated under the RFS, but that elimination of the ethanol mandate is much closer to what they would prefer- and have wanted all along as this food for fuel debate has ramped up.
Kelsey is our guest on today's Beef Buzz as he and Ron Hays talk ethanol.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
To read more about the Coburn-Feinstein proposal, click here.
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