Farm Bill Hot, but Focus Switches to Energy

Farmers, ethanol and biofuel producers hope Congress moves ahead to bolster alternatives to fossil fuels
from DesMoinesRegister.com
By Philip Brasher • WASHINGTON FARM REPORT • November 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Democrats hope Republican senators will get an earful from farmers about the Senate's gridlocked farm bill. Democrats would probably prefer that farmers not notice the stalled energy bill.

But that energy bill could have a bigger impact on the agricultural economy. Prices for corn, soybeans and even wheat and cotton have risen sharply since Congress passed the last energy bill in 2005, which set the first mandate for ethanol usage.

The demand for corn to make ethanol drove up corn prices to the highest levels in a decade. And that, in turn, led farmers to plant more corn this year and less wheat, soybeans and cotton, helping to push up prices for all three of those commodities. Net farm income is expected to top $87 billion this year, a 48 percent increase from 2006.

Farmers and ethanol and biodiesel producers worry the good times won't continue unless Congress acts soon to raise the mandate and guarantee a growing demand for both products.

"Obviously, people do know that the ethanol and biodiesel market has done a lot for commodity programs. There is a bigger threat that we're not going to finish the energy bill than there is the farm bill," said Mary Kay Thatcher, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

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