US ethanol program reduces corn exports to agri countries

Countries depending on the US for corn to feed their livestock industries stand to import less volume as the US diverts more of its corn harvest to its ethanol program.

"The expansion of the ethanol fuel industry in the US has mushroomed in the past three years and continues as most of America now mixes 10 percent ethanol with regular gasoline to increase overall fuel supplies," American farmer James Andrew said. He added: "We invested in a 50-million gallon ethanol plant in 2003 which to date has returned US 250 percent of our original investment in cash. Some now worry that the expansion of ethanol plants is outrunning the available supplies of corn in the United States and many farmers are exploring continuous corn, eliminating the soybean rotation in order to meet the market demand."

Andrew’s forum was an international workshop on "Farmer Biotech Outreach: Strengthening the Competitiveness of Small Farmers" held recently at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Makati City.

Attended mostly by farmer-leaders and biotechnology crop growers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, India and the US, the workshop was organized by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC), and Asian Farmers Regional Network (ASFARNET), and supported by the US government through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

In his paper titled "Biotech Crops in US Agriculture — Full Speed Ahead," Andrew noted that imported corn from the US is becoming more expensive to developing countries, whom he advised "to see your local bids increase to meet the livestock producers and corn processors" needs in your own countries."

He discounted, though, that there would be kernel corn available for export from the US.

"It is rather to point out that ‘all boats rise with the tide’ and all of your that produce corn should be able to reap increased prices for your production in your internal country markets," he said. "In my opinion, this is a win/win situation for all corn producers in the world as we finally receive a decent return on our labor and investment after years of overproduction and utilization in the United States."

Andrew encouraged farmers to grow genetically modified (GM) corn to considerably boost their production and meet their demand for commercial crops such as corn.

He said that American corn farmers think the biotechnology revolution will change the face and economics of agriculture worldwide.

"Rather than keep these wonderful new seeds for ourselves I am glad that the farmers of your countries have an opportunity to cash in on the improved yields and kernel quality they offer," he stressed.

Andrew, 57, whose father was a captain under Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s command in the Philippines during World War II, estimated that about 80 percent of the corn and 90 percent of the beans grown in the US are biotech crops.