Perdue's Strong First Year at USDA May Be Clouded by Ethanol Doubts

by Chuck Abbott (Successful Farming) ... In May 2017, during his (Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue) first month as secretary, he created the post of undersecretary for trade, a longtime goal of farm groups, as part of redrawing USDA’s organizational chart.

If Perdue made his mark at a White House meeting on NAFTA a year ago, his stature suffered at a high-stakes meeting with Trump on ethanol in late February. Sources say Perdue was not forthcoming in defense of ethanol when oil-state Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) advocated a price cap on RINs. “That was a big miss,” said one farm leader. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) speculated that Perdue may have been hemmed in. “The president or people close to him said, ‘The president wants to find a solution to this ethanol problem, and we expect you to help,’ ” said Grassley.

A day later, as rumors circulated at the Commodity Classic, Perdue hotly denied that he was soft on ethanol. “I can tell you unequivocally, President Trump stands with corn farmers and he stands with biofuel farmers and he stands with the RFS,” he said, as thousands of farmers stood in applause. “I have not, I will not, support any policies that diminish RFS and our producers.”

At a news conference afterward, Perdue said he did not understand why farmers care so much about RIN prices. He also said he favors the year-round sale of E15, the ethanol industry solution to high RIN prices. At a policy meeting held at the Commodity Classic, corn farmers passed a resolution asking Trump “to retain the current RIN system without change.” READ MORE