Colorado Corn Cultivating Opportunities

Watch the video of Wedneday night's news piece...see link below.

Comments aired in the newsclip:

… we feel like a punching bag…

Comments made but not aired, or "The Rest of the Story:

CBS: What do you think of the push to move away from corn-based ethanol for renewable fuel production?

Mark: It would be a giant step backwards in the sense of infrastructure development and progress toward greater energy independence.

It is obvious there is tremendous propaganda effort spent on convincing consumers that corn ethanol is bad. Consumers need to ask – who stands to benefit from stifling ethanol development? Could it be the most well-funded, powerful, and influencial lobby in the world?

We see the same mis-information and distortions concerning corn ethanol resurface all over the country through various media outlets.

The public is being mis-lead into blaming the wrong industry for significant increases in food prices.

· An 18oz box of corn flakes has only 8 cents worth of corn… and that’s at today’s corn price. A 4 cent increase in a $4 dollar box is not what the media has been reporting.

· Similarly, a pound of beef used only 27 cents worth of corn as feed inputs… and that’s at today’s corn prices.

· Only 19% of your grocery dollar, on average, lands with the producer of the ag commodity AND that was before fuel tripled in price.

· A 1 $ increase in a gallon of gas has 3 times the impact of a 1$ increase in the price of a bushel of corn.

· A recent USDA study shows that corn-based biofuels can account for only 3% of the 43% increase in Global food prices.

· Corn supply, nationally, has increased by more than enough to meet ethanol demand.
2006 crop 10.5 B bu nationally
2007 crop 13.1 B bu nationally

· A producer cannot simply pass through his costs of production to the purchaser of his products. The ag markets don’t work that way, not for the dairyman, the corn producer, or the cattle feeder. They take the price offered by those who need their products.

· Corn ethanol isn’t made from SWEET corn…

CBS: Aren’t corn producers making more money now?

Mark: They are RISKING much more than ever before to produce the food, fiber, and fuel for not only our country, but the world. Their costs of production have increased so dramatically in the recent 2 years that they are essentially risking almost twice as much in terms of production costs in order to hang onto a marginal net income advantage to a few years ago.

The current commodity price increase is about four decades over-due. Corn sold in 1950 for about the same as much of the 2005 corn crop on a national average basis. Meanwhile, costs of production have increased dramatically over that time. Farmers have survived by becoming more and more efficient and by using technological advances to increase productivity per acre.

The average age of farmers is about 57. Why? Because younger generations have seen the struggle and uncertainty their parents have gone through to make a living on the farm. With sustainably stronger commodity prices a possibility, maybe we’ll finally see more interest in current and future generations.

CBS: What about Subsidies that benefit corn producers?

Mark: Corn growers don’t receive ethanol subsidies. Ironically, the subsidy everyone likes to talk about – the “blenders credit” of 51 cents per gallon – typically lands with the oil industry. They are the ones who do most of the blending of ethanol and petroleum fuel. These steps do require investment for infrastructure, and I believe this incentive was designed to encourage adoption.