Lew Weisfeld's Regup Blogs

FARM ENERGY: Energy does not usually come to mind in discussions of agriculture, but times have changed. This year, the chairmen of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have said that energy is likely to be a primary driver in the 2007 farm bill reauthorization. The ethanol and energy provisions in farm bill may help or hinder feedstock shift from corn to cellulose.

 

Today, farm energy means corn, and corn-based ethanol has redrawn the U.S. farm landscape. Both chairmen, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), hope to pass a farm bill that walks a thin line between developing noncorn cellulosic ethanol without upsetting the current buoyant corn market, which has so greatly benefited farmers and rural communities. Every half-dozen or so years, Congress takes up a farm bill. The first was in 1933; the most recent, in 2002, was the first bill to carry specific energy provisions. In the next farm bill, which legislators hope to pass this year, energy and ethanol will most certainly play a big role. Chemical & Engineering News, 05/07/07, pp. 50-52.