4-30 news: Livestock and poultry coalition calls for end of ethanol subsidies, protective tariff
“Although we support the need to advance renewable and alternative sources of energy, we strongly believe that it is time that the mature corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities that rely on corn as their major input,” the groups wrote in a letter to Michigan Congressmen Sander M. Levin and Dave Camp, the chairman and ranking Republican member, respectively, of the tax-writing committee. “Favoring one segment of agriculture at the expense of another does not benefit agriculture as a whole or the consumers that ultimately purchase our products.”
The groups noted their serious concerns over the negative economic effects that government support for corn-ethanol has had on animal agriculture, specifically the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the import tariff on foreign ethanol.