Common Ground: SD Farm Groups Differ on Policy, but Support Ethanol

by Mikkel Pates (Agweek) ... Agweek visited with the presidents of the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the South Dakota Farmers Union, the two general farm organizations that aren’t specific to a commodity or a species of livestock. The organizations differ in emphasis, but agree on certain things. Significantly, both say ethanol will be important to the region, and will weather the financial storm.

SDFB is clearly and consistently in favor of ethanol development. It is opposed to lowering ethanol volumes required in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard, as has been proposed.

Ethanol production also creates a byproduct called distiller’s grains, which benefits the state’s livestock industry as a feed option.

“We do have some livestock producers who feel the RFS is an unfair advantage, and that it drives up the cost of corn,” VanderWal (Scott VanderWal, president of the SDFB since 2004) says. “But we can see now that corn is back to some pretty low prices. We’re still producing ethanol at record levels, like we had been.”

Ethanol development and expansion is the biggest priority for the Farmers Union, an organization of about 14,000 people. With the rise and fall of corn prices in the past several years, Sombke (South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke) sees ethanol as “the way to go” to help stabilize corn and other grains.

“It gives us another market for the marketing of the corn, but also the byproducts,” he says.

South Dakota has been one of the most aggressive places for developing ethanol, and is still trying to expand.

The current $3-per-bushel corn price might mean less cash for investment, but that’s when farmers need the ethanol market the most, Sombke says.

“That’s the reason I got into it 10 years ago, and why I started using higher blends of ethanol rather than just using the 10 percent, and not only in flex-fuel vehicles but in non flex-fuel vehicles, as well.”

A national industry effort seeks to raise the ethanol level in fuel from 10 to 15 percent, but Sombke thinks the future is the E30 blend. It’s the “most stable fuel you can find,” he says, regarding its evaporation volatility. He has E30 splash-blended and delivered to his farm for use in flex-fuel and standard vehicles. READ MORE