12 October 2012

2 minute read

North America

"Corn is a key component in so many food products that its availability and affordability as a food ingredient is crucial in US food production," the organisations said. "Virtually the entire food chain, from farm to table, is adversely affected by the reduced availability and increased cost of corn caused in large part by the drought, but certainly exacerbated by the RFS."

EPA is authorised under the Clean Air Act to issue a waiver of the RFS if the administrator determines that implementing the requirement "would severely harm the economy" or that "an inadequate domestic supply" exists. Approximately 40 percent of all US corn is currently dedicated to ethanol production.

Impact on Dairy

Livestock farmers who rely on corn to feed their animals are struggling to find sufficient corn feedstock, and some dairy farmers are looking to reduce their herd size, which would limit the available supply of farm milk.

The comments highlighted the impact on America's dairy companies, stating that higher feed costs have helped to drive the retail price of milk higher and make dairy products less competitive in the market. They also note that these higher costs are cited by the Congressional Research Service as "a major reason behind a proposed revision of government dairy policy that is designed to periodically increase dairy product prices even further by enforcing limits on the amount of milk that each dairy farm can sell, a market intrusive and regulatory burdensome program that will hurt dairy export growth and encourage dairy imports at a cost of thousands of American jobs."

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