Ethanol Dilemma

Everybody out there knows I am not a big fan of ethanol. Ethanol and bio fuels are in my opinion damaging our food security by turning our food into fuel. We have choices in our life and by filling up our SUV with food, we are driving the price of our food up which damages rich and poor alike throughout the world. That's the way I see it.<br />n<br />nA lot of people in the cattle business are worried about ethanol too but for a different reason. The rising price of corn really stands to hurt the cow-calf man. The feeders are getting by because of the distillers grain but the cow-calf man is getting hurt by ethanol. The higher price of grain causes the feeders not to bid as much for the calves which really squeezes the cow-calf man.<br />n<br />nI've tried not to let the above thinking cloud my feelings about ethanol. Do I oppose ethanol because of calf prices or because it is driving food prices up? I believe it is mostly because of the food price situation but maybe there is a little bit of self interest in there also. Where is all this leading up to?<br />n<br />nI found a couple of interesting opinion pieces today that I wanted to share. The first explores the cattle businesses obsession with the latest <a href="http://beefmagazine.com/cowcalfweekly/house-passed-energy-bill/">energy bill</a>. Yea, the energy bill. I've heard more cattle producers voicing concern about the energy bill than I have about the farm bill because the cattle guys are really scared of the renewable fuel mandates that are in it which is going to drive the price of corn even higher, damaging the cow-calf man. This opinion piece says that maybe the cow-calf man needs to start haunting the halls of Congress with hat in hand like the corn people have done for so long and get a subsidy for our survival. Interesting thought but I'm not to sure I am ready for that drastic of move. I am very concerned over the financial health of the cattle industry and my ranch in particular, begging in the halls of Congress would be a little hard for me.<br />n<br />nThe second piece tells us cattlemen to get over it. <a href="http://beefmagazine.com/cowcalfweekly/accept-change-get-on/">Ethanol is here to stay and deal with it</a>.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>As rural communities and cattlemen, we should be proud that we're supplying energy to the world, and that cattle can utilize the by-products. While I don't believe ethanol is the permanent answer to replacing energy dependency on foreign oil, it's part of the solution. How high would the price of oil go if we didn't have ethanol to fill the supply gap?<br />n<br />nBy the way, the October issue of National Geographic had an excellent article on carbon reduction and the true yields of various ethanol substrates used for production.<br />n<br />nThese factors are forcing a paradigm change in the cattle industry that we must learn to deal with. It is national energy policy and looks to be that way for some time to come.<br />n<br />nI am tired of turf protecting the status quo in the cattle industry. As an industry, we should be furious about the lack of world market share we aren't capturing. With the low value of the U.S. dollar, and the cheapest feedstuffs in the world, we should be providing the world with beef.<br />n<br />nInstead, we argue over ethanol production. Producer pitted against producer isn't a good thing for the U.S. beef industry. Isn't it time to recognize that things are changing?</blockquote><br />n<br />nNot surprisingly, this opinion is not stated by a cow-calf man, but a feeder and dairy man who is taking advantage of the cheaper ethanol byproducts. Looking beyond that though is there some truth to this? Do we as cattle producers need to figure out how we fit in this new regime instead of fighting it so much? A bigger personal question for me is, am I complaining about ethanol for food security reasons or am I complaining because of it s potential to hurt me as a ranch and business?<br />n<br />nI'm not saying I have the answers to these questions. I do believe my concerns about ethanol and our governments continued financial and Legislative support for it are valid for food security reasons. Do we as a society need to keep subsidizing ethanol and corn producers with the prices the way they are? I guess that's my biggest question now. The cow-calf man is going to have to figure out how to fit in this new situation. I don't like it, but that's the truth. How it will all shake out is beyond me. <br />n<br />nI will tell you one thing though, the price of beef is not going down any time soon in the grocery stores. If anything only look for prices to be going up as cattle supplies get tighter. I won't go so far to say the cow-calf man took a bath this year in the US, but it wasn't a great financial year. Calf prices were close to last year but the higher cost of fuel and feed really meant that there was more losses in the sector this year. This has really scared a lot of cow-calf people into wondering where we are going, what we are doing. This is really driving the ethanol dilemma in the beef industry, the worries of the cow-calf man.<br />n<br />n<strong>Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better. Sydney J. Harris </strong>