Indiana corn growers took it on the chin last week when the Environmental Protection Agency chose big oil over ethanol producers.
Corn growers had been bracing for what the EPA could do to ethanol supplies. And unfortunately, the EPA on Friday cut the corn ethanol obligation by 3.75 billion gallons. According to the National Corn Growers Association, this represents nearly a billion and a half bushels of lost corn demand.
The growers report said the only beneficiary of the EPA decision would be big oil. The association said the feds' gift to big oil comes at the expense of family farmers, American consumers and clean air. The Renewable Fuel Standard was working, the association said.
The farmers group had warned that cutting the ethanol supply could have a "chilling effect" on growers in Indiana and other states. In fact, Indiana ranks fourth in the nation in ethanol production behind Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, according to the Associated Press.
Indiana's 14 ethanol plants produced 998 million gallons of ethanol last year, reported the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. It is an industry that has created more than 25,000 Indiana jobs.
Ted McKinney, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, has said the ethanol industry is "a bona fide way" to boost Indiana's rural communities because the overall renewable fuels industry is likely to grow, reported the AP
"Right now, it's kernels of corn, but as we look to the future who knows where science and technology can take us?" he was quoted.
Unfortunately, for now, it appears that the emphasis belongs to the oil industry, and not Hoosier farmers.