By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) indicated it does not support the economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. House because it fails to address needed improvements to transportation infrastructure and neglects to take steps to assist the struggling domestic ethanol industry.

Following the National Corn Growers Assoc. lead, the ICGA condemned the preclusion of funding for the Water Resources Development Act. The legislation also fails to address the credit crunch that currently threatens to shutter more ethanol plants and drive more bankruptcies in that industry, according to the ICGA.
“There is currently nothing in the stimulus package to assist agriculture and these two steps would provide a boost to this core industry that is fundamental to the long term health of the U.S. economy,” said Rob Elliott, ICGA president, in a prepared statement.

Ethanol makers are caught in a catch-22, the ICGA maintains, because they are being asked to produce more ethanol while the current marketplace limits the amount that can be blended in gasoline to 10 percent.

“We have two billion bushels of ethanol capacity idled right now and we are still importing oil. This is contrary to the national energy policy the public says it wants which calls for more domestic, renewable energy sources. Nobody thinks gasoline prices will stay at the current level, so we can ill afford to let our best bet for energy independence collapse,” said Elliott.

Farmers should not expect a check in the mailbox as a result of President Obama’s impending stimulus package, according to Stu Ellis of the University of Illinois extension. More than $27 billion, however, will be allocated for food and agriculture, he wrote in a Jan. 28 article posted at www.farmgate.uiuc.edu

While many of those funds will be directed to urban areas, the bulk of the remaining funds will go for rural development and conservation, he wrote. The use of the funds are detailed in a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

“The CRS report indicates the administration is proposing $5.125 billion for rural development and infrastructure improvements over a two-year period to fund grants and loans,” Ellis reported.

“That is double the annual USDA appropriation, and with local matching funds, raises the local impact to nearly $35 billion.”

Specifically, the rural facilities program would receive $200 million for public safety, libraries, education, community centers, daycare and rural medical clinics that will begin $1.2 billion in loan and grant applications already pending. Another $500 million would be distributed to guarantee loans for rural housing.

An additional $100 million will be used to spur $2 billion in loans and grants to rural businesses hampered with tight credit. Rural water and waste systems would receive $1.5 billion.

The stimulus would also provide $2.8 billion for loans and grants to expand broadband Internet service to rural areas. Conservation programs would receive $400 million.