The turkey industry faces growing economic problems, fueled by the terrible drought in the Midwest and a misguided federal ethanol policy that is turning a feed shortage into an acute feed crisis. This summer’s drought is one of the worst in history, reducing corn yields to their lowest levels in a generation and diminishing the feed value of the remaining corn. With this much damaged or destroyed corn, supplies tighten naturally and prices increase, making it increasingly expensive to feed turkeys and all livestock and poultry.
It is a situation in which one would expect the federal government to be looking for a way to help ease the grain shortage and keep food prices under control. But, so far, the government has “doubled-down” on the crisis by refusing to ease the ethanol-production mandate imposed by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The RFS is the program created by Congress in 2005 and expanded in 2007 that requires a specific amount of renewable fuel (13.2 billion gallons in 2012) to be blended into gasoline. Since virtually all renewable fuel in this country is corn-based ethanol, the RFS is now diverting more than 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop to ethanol production. It continues to be the top obstacle to growth and productivity for the turkey industry.