NEWS
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | JUNE 21, 2012
U.S. BIOFUEL | PROGRAM REVIEW
AG RESEARCH | COMPETITIVENESS
U.S. group to study effects of renewable fuel mandate
Lack of co-operation hurts ag research
Some senators want the mandate abolished BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
The industry that helped give rise to today’s high grain prices is under attack. A federal program that is the backbone of the U.S. ethanol and biodiesel industry is going under the microscope. A newly formed U.S. senate group will conduct a review of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2), which establishes federal mandates for biodiesel and ethanol. The RFS2 has been a major factor in the rise of grain prices. The ethanol industry consumed 41 percent of the 2011-12 U.S. corn crop, which is more than what the U.S. livestock feed industry bought. One of the group’s founders, senator James Inhofe, has made it clear what he thinks of U.S. biofuel policy. “I’ve had problems with ethanol for as long as I can remember and I’m going to be doing what I can to relieve that and do away with the mandate,” he told a government-run publication that covers congress. The group plans to start its work in mid-June and continue its sessions until late September. It will conduct a “seed-to-wheels” analysis of every aspect of the RFS2, including market impacts, environmental issues and its influence on food prices. The U.S. Renewable Fuels Association said the Senate’s working group is being formed at the same time as a coalition of anti-ethanol groups prepares to launch a multimillion-dollar, multi-year campaign to eliminate the RFS2. The coalition includes powerful lobbyists like the American Petroleum Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Chicken Council and Friends of the Earth. BiofuelsDigest said the same coalition was responsible for eliminating the ethanol blender’s tax credit in 2011. Its new objective is to repeal or substantially alter the RFS2 by the end of the 113th U.S. Congress Jan. 3, 2015. “I think it’s really important for the industry to know that the wolves are at the door,” renewable fuels association president Bob Dinneen said in a news release. “The RFS is under attack in Washington, D.C., today.” Dinneen said if the ethanol industry is facing a “seed-to-wheels” examination, then the oil industry should be placed under a similar “war-to-wheels” scrutiny. He anticipates the oil industry will do everything in its power to prevent a plan to increase the allowable ethanol blend at the pumps to 15 from 10 percent. “It’s going to be up to all of us to explain to people how E15 can’t hurt your radiator and how one fill up can’t hurt your fuel pump,” Dinneen said. “Brace yourselves. It will be brutal. We are going to have to be vigilant for when this occurs.”
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Government, university link lost | ‘We have had a serious deterioration of our infrastructure over time:’ researcher BY BARRY WILSON OTTAWA BUREAU
Canada’s agricultural research effort has been hurt by a decline in co-operation between federal and provincial governments and with universities, says a senior university research director. The result has been a challenge to Canada’s ability to compete and innovate. Richard Moccia, associate vicepresident for research at the University of Guelph, told members of the Senate agriculture committee studying research performance that some
links have eroded over the years and research has suffered. He said robust results from research are necessary to keep agriculture a key player in the Canadian economy and to renew its potential. “I see this as a significant industry for Canada that increasingly falls below the radar of the common citizen of Canada, 90 percent of whom live in urban centres now, and we need to reposition the importance of agri-food and what it contributes to Canada’s economy, job creation and the opportunity for global competitiveness with new technology,” he told the committee during a
recent appearance. “We have been a world leader and we need to regain our international prominence in agri-food technology.” Moccia said there has been a decline in contact between government and university researchers who often worked together in the past but now typically do not. He said the same gap exists in planning investment in research facilities. “If you have been in the agri-food industry in academics for more than 20 years or so, you will know that we have had a serious deterioration of
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our infrastructure over time,” he said. There is an “unprecedented need” to reinvest in research infrastructure, w h i c h re q u i re s c o l l a b o ra t i o n between all players in the system, he added. Moccia also said there must be more federal-provincial collaboration in setting research priorities that will factor into a national system. Financing of research has been declining so smart priority setting is all the more important, he said. Moccia also said more attention should be paid to the connection between agricultural research and public health.