US politicians campaign against corn ethanol subsidies
Two members of the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill to remove government subsidies on corn-derived bioethanol.
The Affordable Food and Fuel for America Act, sponsored by Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, and Mary Joseph Mack, a Californian Republican, would phase out subsidies on the production of ethanol from corn and transfer them to second-generation biofuels.
The bill has the backing of cattle farmers, who complain that the subsidies are undermining their own industry by artificially raising the price of corn, making it more expensive to feed their animals.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, feed costs for livestock, poultry and dairy reached a record high of $45.2 billion (€31.4 billion) in 2008, an increase of more than $7 billion over 2007 costs.
The Affordable Food and Fuel for America Act, sponsored by Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, and Mary Joseph Mack, a Californian Republican, would phase out subsidies on the production of ethanol from corn and transfer them to second-generation biofuels.
The bill has the backing of cattle farmers, who complain that the subsidies are undermining their own industry by artificially raising the price of corn, making it more expensive to feed their animals.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, feed costs for livestock, poultry and dairy reached a record high of $45.2 billion (€31.4 billion) in 2008, an increase of more than $7 billion over 2007 costs.
Loading ...
