EPA reviews meat industry call for ethanol reform

The EPA has the power to execute a waiver on the RFS programme, which determines the amount of fuel which needs to be made from renewable sources, with 13.2b gallons of ethanol from corn being set for 2012. The coalition of meat and poultry organisations argue that the droughts have affected the corn harvest to such an extent that the mandate is destabilising volatile markets, sending feed costs soaring and putting heir businesses are at risk.  

It called for prompt and urgent action and asked that “all relevant measures of relief be explored and taken where possible... [including] the amount of grain utilized for the production of renewable fuel”.

It said: “It is abundantly clear that sufficient harm is occurring now and that economic conditions affecting grain supplies and feed prices will worsen in the months ahead. Both conditions provide an independent basis for a waiver of the RFS.”

The chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said that this federal mandate “threatened the viability of the livestock industry during the worst drought in my lifetime”. The ongoing drought is expected to drastically reduced the corn harvest, with estimates putting the yield at 11.8bn bushel, down from 13bn in 2011.  

The news came as US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a further set of measures to alleviate the problems of livestock farmers facing huge droughts.

Vilsack announced the new drought assistance programme which has expanded emergency haying and grazing across millions of acres of conservation land, including wetland reserve areas, as well as announcing a short grace period for farmers on unpaid insurance premiums to help alleviate cash flow problems. He also designated a further 218 counties in 12 states as primary national disaster areas.