Big Crop Vs. Big Oil

Big Crop Vs. Big Oil. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture. Bob Dinneen, President and CEO, of the Renewable Fuels Association spent some time on the phone with reporters last week talking about the expected 2013 corn crop and the impact it will have on big oil. DINEEN: Big oil’s campaign to suggest that the RFS and ethanol are driving up the price of food and somehow the farmers just can’t produce enough to meet the demand is just belied by the facts on the ground that is so obvious over the last several weeks as you drive around the country. Dineen says this years corn crop is expected to be a big crop and could play into additional types of fuels. DINEEN: The other thing that the oil companies are always saying - cellulosic ethanol doesn’t exist and how can you make us sell something that we can’t buy? Well, in fact, cellulosic ethanol does exist. In August Ineos began producing commercial volumes of cellulosic ethanol in Florida. But also you’ve got to look at what EPA did in releasing the 2013 RVO. They signaled their intent to reduce the cellulosic numbers, perhaps even reducing the advanced numbers when the 2014 RVO comes out, they are utilizing the flexibility that the RFS has in a way that reflects the marketplace reality. This is an issue that will see a lot more headlines from both sides in the coming months. That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.