GROWING
Biotechnology takes a bow for those advancements in crop production
and subsequent yield increases.
While a third of the U.S. corn crop is used to make livestock feed, another
third goes into food and other products for humans, and the rest of it is
used to make ethanol. This renewable fuel source is an important avenue
for America’s corn farmers. Without this market, many producers would
be forced to grow different crops.
As a grain farmer and seed dealer in Cassopolis, Michigan, Aaron Blaske
boasts a first-hand perspective of farming. He also works directly
with his peers in the industry on a daily basis.
“Our farm’s been around for the last 60 years and I’ve
been heavily involved for about the last five,” Blaske
said of the operation he works on with both his dad
and grandpa.
The trio all agree that ethanol production is one
of the main drivers that keeps grain farmers in
business in their area.
“Ethanol makes us the most money and is at the
forefront of a lot of the decisions that we make,”
Blaske said. “Anything we can do to increase
ethanol production is a pretty big deal, both for my
own farm and for my customers.”
Originally introduced in 2005, the Renewable
Fuel Standard (RFS) was created by Congress
“to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
expand the nation’s renewable fuel sectors
while reducing reliance on imported oil,”
according to the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website. As with anything, RFS
has gotten facelifts over the years, but not all of them improved its smile
enough to win the hearts of corn farmers.
In 2019, Trump delivered on one of his key 2016 campaign promises:
promoting increased domestic biofuel use. However, when the required
15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol blended into the nation’s fuel
wasn’t being met, farmers were the first to take that financial burden.
The Small Refinery Exemptions for the RFS allowed small-scale
refineries the ability to bypass their obligation to include biofuels
in their gasoline if they could prove they were in a financial
hardship. Trump’s administration found themselves in a
bind when more refineries than expected qualified for the
exemptions, effectively hurting the U.S. corn grower.
“Ethanol is the quickest, cleanest, and most
renewable source of fuel and it’s also the most
profitable way to make positive change in the
agricultural industry,” Blaske explained. “Those
Small Refinery Exemptions have to stop; those are
killing the industry. If you exempt everyone from
blending ethanol into their gas, then there
is no need for an ethanol plant and no
need for the corn that goes into it.”
Primarily available in the Midwest,
ethanol refineries are logically
placed in the corn belt. Since
producers have the distinct
pleasure of paying all the
freight for their product, the
shorter the haul, the more
profit they can pocket.
That margin is already
minimal, so farmers
are making the best
business decisions
by shortening their
shipment distance.
The TRUMP RALLY Publication 159