NCGA Tells Senate Panel: Enough Corn for all Markets (2-2-07)

With the spotlight this week on biofuels, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Ken McCauley told the Senate corn growers will continue to provide enough corn for all markets – food, feed, export and fuel – through NCGA’s 15 x 15 x 15 goal.

McCauley was a panelist on the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s biofuels conference Thursday. “NCGA confidently supports the vision that corn growers will produce 15 billion bushels of corn, 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015,” he told the committee. “This is a bold initiative yet one that can be met. The corn industry has the resources, ingenuity and resolve to satisfy future demands.”

In fact, because of the heightened demand, corn growers have produced the three largest corn crops in history in the past three years. According to McCauley, growers expect to bring in an even larger crop in 2007.

Despite recent advances in corn yields and ethanol processing technology, the considerable increase in corn use for ethanol has caused many to question how feed, food, and export markets will be affected by increased ethanol production.

NCGA recently conducted an analysis of future corn use dynamics. Due to increasing yields, incremental acreage shifts, and new technology, it is quite feasible that corn growers could harvest a crop of 14 to 15 billion bushels by 2015-2016. Under this scenario, approximately 5.5 billion bushels would be available for ethanol conversion, without diverting corn from other markets, such as livestock feed. This amount of corn would equate to more than 15 billion gallons of ethanol - or roughly 10 percent of the United States’ expected gasoline demand.

Additionally, NCGA expects ethanol production from cellulosic feedstocks, such as corn stover and wheat straw will become economically feasible, said McCauley. “Despite the near-term logistical and technological challenges surrounding conversion of cellulosic feedstocks to ethanol, we believe the possibility exists to produce significant amounts of ethanol from these feedstocks by 2015-16,” he said.

Furthermore, biofuels produced from all feedstocks (including biodiesel) could realistically reach 20 billion gallons by the 2015-16 timeframe. Such a goal will require the dedication of major resources to research and development, commercialization and technology transfer, as well as promotion and consumer education, McCauley cautioned.

Lastly, seed technology developments, increasing agricultural efficiency, innovation in renewable fuels production processes and other breakthroughs will ensure the American farmer will continue to meet the world’s needs for food, feed, and fuel. U.S. agriculture has the capability to meet domestic and world needs and still make a significant contribution to addressing America’s growing transportation fuel needs.

McCauley told panel and committee members that NCGA feels further research and development is needed to: improve the current corn ethanol process; further develop conversion processes of corn kernel fiber and corn stover to ethanol; and further fund the biorefinery grants and loan guarantee programs.

“NCGA is urging more investment in research,” McCauley concluded, “because without continued investment in research, the development and further expansion of the industry will be stunted and development will slow.”

For more on NCGA’s viewpoint on balancing the demands for food and fuel, click here.