Poll: Most people support ethanol
Argus Leader
In the past two years, some trade associations have indicted ethanol made from corn, saying it has raised the price of food.
The oil industry, the National Grocers Association and others also say ethanol has received unfair government subsidies and prompted farmers in South America to plow up grasslands and cut down forests.
The attacks coincided with a run-up in corn prices and the annually escalating federal mandate that renewable fuels constitute a greater percentage of motor fuel, to 36 billion gallons by 2022 under the Renewable Fuel Standards program.
But the message seems to have changed few minds.
A survey in September of 1,000 registered voters nationwide sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association found 65 percent of those polled support ethanol. Respondents have an even higher regard for the farmers who grow the corn to make it: Ninety-percent had a positive image of farmers in general and 75 percent had high regard for corn farmers in particular.
The survey was conducted for the corn growers by David Binder Research and claims to have a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
"Ethanol has taken a political beating, but the country loves ethanol," said Lisa Richardson, executive director of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association. She suggests the survey shows most Americans see ethanol and agriculture as "part of the solution in a carbon-based economy. We are the next fuel. Americans believe it."
A solid signal as to whether that is the case might come in early December. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected then to decide whether to increase the percentage of alcohol distilled from corn and blended with gasoline to make ethanol. Proponents of renewable fuels say such an increase is needed if the ethanol industry is to continue to grow and meet the Renewable Fuel Standard program.
Oil independence called top benefit
Ron Lamberty, vice president for market development for the American Coalition for Ethanol, notes the campaign against ethanol followed several years of mostly laudatory reviews. Early in the decade, ethanol was widely viewed as cleaner burning than gasoline and as offering a homegrown, renewable alternative to imported oil while promoting economic development in farm country.
That narrative endures, according to the survey. Among respondents, 34 percent said the most important benefit of ethanol is its ability to reduce dependence on foreign oil, 19 percent said it was the creation of jobs and 16 percent said it is reduced carbon emissions.
"With all the punches we've taken in the last year and a half, it's good to know that almost two of three people still have a positive impression of ethanol," Lamberty said.
'In the Midwest ... people still get it'
Results of the survey come as no surprise to Mike Held, executive director of the South Dakota Farm Bureau.
"We have done polling with very similar questions over the decades and find very equal results to what the Corn Growers found. The general public has a good feeling and a good response toward today's agriculture," Held said.
"In the Midwest, I think people still get it," said Bill Chase, a Wolsey farmer and president of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association. "They all came from agriculture. Their ancestors were farmers and they understand what agriculture is."
Farm Bureau surveys continually have found a positive image of farming, Held said, despite the fact "people are getting further and further removed from the farm and ranch.
"We are now making references to people three and four generations removed," he said.
One oil industry member, the Texas-based refiner Valero, established a presence in the ethanol industry this year when it bought five ethanol plants from the bankrupt Verasun. If it enjoys any benefit from its association with renewable fuels and agriculture, however, it is of minimal importance, according to Valero Spokesman Bill Day.
"Valero decided to buy ethanol plants because we are required to blend ethanol into gasoline, and we see ethanol as being an important part of the country's transportation fuel mix for the future," Day said.
But the National Corn Growers Association survey draws attention to something often taken for granted, Lamberty said.
"We live among the farmers, and you don't realize how important they are to everybody else. They're just people you know. Then you realize around the country they are pretty highly thought of."
