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http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/164449 Pig farmers, ethanol don't mix It raises price of corn used as feed, they say By Joseph Barrios ARIZONA DAILY STAR Pork farmers are just starting to peel the husk away from an issue they fear could ultimately threaten production across the country, according to industry leaders who met in Tucson this week. The production of corn-based ethanol fuel and its impact on the cost of corn dominated conversation among members of the National Pork Board, a federally mandated organization that administers programs for pork producers, and the 21st Century Pork Club, an association of farmers, distributors and others with interests in the industry. Both groups met this week at the JW

Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd. Production of ethanol has doubled in four years. The pork industry, which relies heavily on corn as feed, is still grappling with the issue. Pig farmers are worried that increased demand for corn will raise prices to a level they can't afford. Ethanol plants and foreign buyers are gobbling the nation's corn supplies, pushing prices as high as $3.40 a bushel, the Agriculture Department said Friday. Farmers haven't seen prices this high for more than a decade. The use of dried distiller grains — the byproduct of ethanol production — is one solution being explored as a possible new feed source, Paul Sundberg, the board's vice president of science and technology, said during a public meeting Friday. More research is needed, and members of the board will meet with the National Chicken Council, agricultural food giant Cargill and other groups in

Washington, D.C., later this month to determine the best ways to spend research dollars, he said. Rapidly increasing interest in ethanol production has left the industry with "thousands of questions and no answers," said Steve Murphy, the board's CEO. Even if every acre of corn were used for ethanol, it would replace only 12.3 percent of the gasoline used in the U.S., according to a study by University of Minnesota researchers. Use of nonfood materials such as switchgrass, prairie grasses and woody plants to produce ethanol offers greater energy output and less environmental impact than corn, the researchers said. Corn-based ethanol is also criticized for being subsidized by the federal government. But the actual threat to pork farmers that ethanol production poses is open to debate, said Gary Schwendiman, chairman of Tucson-based Ethanol Capital Management and former University of Nebraska business dean. Since launching

here in 2003, the company has raised $190 million to build corn-based ethanol production plants in the U.S. Schwendiman, who did not attend Friday's meeting, said any rise in the price of corn also will mean a rise in the price of distiller grains. He said feed growers can increase crop production by more than enough to accommodate the needs of pork farmers and ethanol producers. "Farmers always have planted more corn if they can make big profit. This notion that there's going to be a competition between food and ethanol is just complete nonsense," he said. Michael Wegner, the pork board's vice president of communications, said the Iowa-based group may be looking at funding research later this year. ● Contact reporter Joseph Barrios at 573-4237 or jbarrios. "Get off your ass and take your government back." ~Rocky Ward

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