Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 6/29/11

A new report by a University of Missouri research team concluded that the extension of the ethanol blenders credit and import tariff would raise ethanol production and boost corn prices.

The team was charged with providing nonpartisan analysis to inform congressional policy making.
The report, produced by the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute, compares a baseline at which biofuel tax credits and the ethanol tariff expire on schedule (Dec. 31, 2011) to a scenario in which the 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol blenders credit and 54-per-gallon ethanol tariff are extended indefinitely.

Doing the latter, researchers said, would require an additional 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol per year and an additional 440 million bushels of corn to make it. The price of corn would exceed baseline levels by an average of $0.18 cents per bushel.

The report comes as debate heats up in Congress about the nation’s future energy policy. 

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