St. Louis – As a chief advocate for corn farmers around the country, Rob Litterer will be working the halls of Congress this fall to push for increased ethanol production. But he’s facing stiff opposition from what on the surface seems an unlikely source – the farm lobby.
The burgeoning ethanol industry is creating a wave of prosperity for rural towns throughout the Midwest, but the energy bonanza is also pitting farming groups on opposite sides of the fence.
Corn farmers are pushing for more ethanol production as the industry creates an enormous new market for their crop, giving corn prices the kind of lift they haven’t seen in years. But the corn farmer’s win is the hog farmer’s loss. Meat, dairy and other food producers are pushing back against the ethanol boom as higher grain prices cut into their already slim profit margins.
So as Litterer, incoming president of the National Corn Growers Association, visits with members of Congress in coming months, he knows that meat and dairy lobbyists will be close behind, delivering the opposite message.
“There is no question they have a policy that they are opposed to an increase (in ethanol production),” Litterer said. “But I don’t think their opposition carries any water.”
The tension between grain producers and food producers is roiling agricultural markets around the world as high oil prices spur governments to subsidize food-based fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
The Mexican government this week put a cap on tortilla prices after prices shot up between 20 percent and 30 percent over uncertainty that there would be enough U.S. corn available for export. Brazil will ask the World Trade Organization to formally investigate U.S. farm-subsidy programs – including payments for ethanol production.
