With gas prices crossing $4 a gallon, the EPA says cheaper, more ethanol-rich fuel will ease the pain. The math doesn't really add up—but the risks sure do.
That’s a big part of why the conversation about soybean based biofuel is suddenly in the news. Lot of farmers want to keep growing soy because it is relatively easy and hands off (as much as things can be in farming at least) but the demand is gone, so they need the government to step in and invent a new demand by subsidizing the purchase of soybeans for diesel.
The funny part is, the deals where other countries bought US soybeans as animal feed were a multi decade diplomatic effort by the US government to solve this issue. Those were not deals that just naturally arose because American soy was so cheap or good or anything, they were major foreign policy objective pursued for the sake of maintaining domestic soybean prices at the behest of farmers.
That’s a big part of why the conversation about soybean based biofuel is suddenly in the news. Lot of farmers want to keep growing soy because it is relatively easy and hands off (as much as things can be in farming at least) but the demand is gone, so they need the government to step in and invent a new demand by subsidizing the purchase of soybeans for diesel.
The funny part is, the deals where other countries bought US soybeans as animal feed were a multi decade diplomatic effort by the US government to solve this issue. Those were not deals that just naturally arose because American soy was so cheap or good or anything, they were major foreign policy objective pursued for the sake of maintaining domestic soybean prices at the behest of farmers.