Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

U.S. corn group pursues more ethanol incentives

Reuters
Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:44pm GMT
By Karl Plume

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS (Reuters) - A major U.S. corn producer group says it will continue to pursue incentives to expand ethanol production despite criticism from ailing meat and dairy producers that the corn-based biofuel is to blame for their current economic woes.

The National Corn Growers Association said corn farmers will need all the demand outlets available to them as they face a difficult year ahead due to high production costs and depressed grain prices.

"We are supportive on higher blend rates based on sound science, provided the EPA goes along with it. We will support that, anything above the 10 percent," said NCGA president Bob Dickey, referring to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for the maximum amount of ethanol currently blended into the U.S. fuel supply.

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