NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If only one-quarter of the four billion barrels of oil the U.S. imports each year could be replaced with domestically-produced alternative and renewable fuels within 15 years, USDA Secretary Ed Schafer said significant progress would be made.<br>
“This means we have to give a high priority to research,” he told farmers attending the Commodity Classic in Nashville on Feb. 29.
Schafer noted under the recently passed energy bill, by 2022, at least 36 billion gallons of biofuel will be mandated for domestic usage. Of that, 60 percent will have to come from cellulosic “and other advanced” types of biofuel. As early as next year, he said federal regulations will require an increase in cellulosic ethanol production in the U.S.<br>
He acknowledged this good news for growers, but the increasing prices for crops such as corn and soybeans for biofuel, as well as for food from an increasing middle class in Asia and India, is putting pressure on the American livestock industry – hence, the need for research into more advanced biofuel.<br>
The March 15 expiration on the 2002 farm bill extension looms, yet Schafer was hopeful when he spoke in Nashville. “If (passage of the energy bill) is an example, I am optimistic we will pass a new farm bill this year,” he said, that will benefit farmers and move them more into the global marketplace.<br>
“It is very important to your industry that these talks succeed,” he told growers, explaining if the 2002 bill continues to be extended, it will mean loss of investment in programs such as alternative energy and nutrition assistance.<br>
The Bush administration recently acknowledged it would consider approving an extra $10 billion in the farm bill if Congress reforms subsidies, among other things. Schafer said farmers shouldn’t be able to collect support payments when they haven’t had to sell their crop for a low price.<br>
“An ideal safety net does not hand out subsidy checks to those who don’t need a helping hand,” he said to the Commodity Classic crowd, dominated by corn, soybean and wheat growers. He also said such a safety net should not pay out 90 percent of its subsidies for only five crops “even if three of them are near and dear to your hearts.”<br>
He also said such a safety net should not base counter-cyclical payments on federal government numbers but should instead take into account local yields and crop prices.<br>
Schafer, who was planning to lead a delegation to Colombia in the near future, reiterated President Bush’s desire to enact individual trade agreements with that country, Panama and Korea, as the U.S. did in 2007 with Peru. He claimed if those were signed this year, the U.S. could enjoy a $3 billion increase in agricultural exports to those countries in the next year.<br>