Poultry, livestock coalition calls for end of ethanol subsidies, protective tariff

Livestock and poultry trade associations recently asked the House Ways and Means Committee to allow a 30-year-old tax credit and a protective tariff for ethanol to expire at the end of this year. The request was made in a letter signed by national industry trade associations, including the American Meat Institute, the National Turkey Federation, the National Chicken Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
“Although we support the need to advance renewable and alternative sources of energy, we strongly believe that it is time that the mature corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities that rely on corn as their major input,” the groups wrote in a letter to Michigan Congressmen Sander M. Levin and Dave Camp, the chairman and ranking Republican member, respectively, of the tax-writing committee.
“Favoring one segment of agriculture at the expense of another does not benefit agriculture as a whole or the consumers that ultimately purchase our products.”
The groups noted their concerns over the negative economic effects they say government support for corn-ethanol has had on animal agriculture, specifically the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the import tariff on foreign ethanol.