Ethanol Subsidy Sunset = More at the Pumps?
BLOOMINGTON - With the federal Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) set to expire on January 1, 2012, Illinois Corn Growers Association President Jeff Scates pondered the effect the repeal of the subsidy would have on pump prices.

“It might cost you more to fill up with the gas as early as New Year’s Day,” Scates said in the December 27 Daily Update issued by Illinois Corn. “If all other variables stay the same, gas prices should be higher since the tax credit oil companies have received to blend ethanol with their petroleum won’t be available.”
Corn farmers and the ethanol industry were in favor of the repeal, citing it as a way to help reduce the federal deficit. Corn farmers and ethanol plants benefited little from VEETC, said Scates, with the majority of profits going to oil companies. “Unfortunately, oil companies didn’t follow suit and offer up their own century-old petroleum subsidies as a budget-saving measure,” the Update stated. “It has become increasingly apparent that in the case of some gas stations, more and more often the additional profit margin that the VEETC provided ended up lining big oil’s corporate pocketbook rather than being passed along to consumers.”
Scates added that without the VEETC, critics of the subsidy will be exposed for not disclosing to the public the true cost of the repeal of the subsidy. “The bottom line is this. We should anticipate additional uncertainty when it comes to gas prices in 2012, and that’s not because of ethanol. But I wouldn’t anticipate ethanol’s critics to line up and take credit for it,” he said.

Study: “Indirect Land Use Change” a Hoax
BLOOMINGTON - Research now confirms that ethanol production does not cause cropland expansion, or “indirect land use change,” as asserted by ethanol’s critics for years, according to the USDA. A study funded by Corn Checkoff dollars and supported by the Illinois Corn Marketing Board provided research showing that total cropland actually decreased by 34 million acres from 2002 to 2007, the USDA confirmed.
Instead, most land use growth stemmed from urban sprawl, the study revealed. According to the USDA, land use in urban areas increased by nearly two percent during the period and by 17 percent from 1990-2007. (Ill. Corn Daily Update)

IDOA Cites Loss of No-Till Acreage
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) recently concluded a study showing that while no-till farming is still the conservation practice of choice among Illinois farmers, their numbers declined by nearly ten percentage points since 2006. During that year, a record 33.2 percent of Illinois farmers indicated they practiced no-till conservation tillage, while only 24.2 percent did not till their soil in 2011. The IDOA’s Soil Conservation Transect Survey also revealed that while the use of conventional tillage methods increased, so too did the use of mulch-till, which leaves at least 30 percent of previous crop residue to help protect from soil erosion.
“Because of wet field conditions recently, additional tillage has been required before planting to alleviate soil compaction and level tire ruts,” noted Alan Gulso, Land and Water Resources specialist. “It appears conservation-minded farmers decided to switch to mulch-till instead, which is a minimal tillage system. Whether this is the start of a trend or farmers will return to no-till with more normal planting conditions remains to be seen.” (IDOA news release)

Social Media Internships Offered
BLOOMINGTON - The Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) will offer internships next semester to qualified college students and graduate students interested in social media. Provided for by funding from the corn checkoff, the internships are paid positions described as a “significant tool” for the ICMB and checkoff board to interact with the non-farming public and influence the way they view farming, according to Lindsay Mitchell, project coordinator for the ICMB. “I don’t think it’s any secret that if you are not doing business (through) social media you probably not doing business very well,” she said.
The ICMB funds up to 15 social media internships. Filling the roster with qualified candidates is a top goal of Mitchell and the board for 2012 and beyond. Social media internships are offered every semester and provide net-savvy students the opportunity to work with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs to publish positive information about farmers, create relationships between producers and non-farmers and motivate farmers to talk about themselves to others.
“If you are an intern hired by us we will hand you a social media application with a specific goal,” Mitchell said. “What the interns write is up to them; they are on their own as long as it is a positive ag message they are promoting. These are independent internships, and we can offer an opportunity to just about any student in any location if they have good writing and communications skills. A lot our interns do Facebook pages, and we ask them to post one new message per day. We do a lot of different things.”
Those interested in internships should contact Mitchell at the ICMB/ICGA office in Bloomington.
To access ICMB’s social media sites visit www.ilcorn.org, then select the “media” tab located on the homepage. From there, click on “social media.”

Ag Day Essay Announced
BLOOMINGTON - The Agriculture Council of America has set February 1 as the deadline for ninth-through 12th-grade students to submit essays or brief videos for their annual National Ag Day Essay Contest. The Council is asking parents and teachers to encourage their youth to submit entries under the theme “American Agriculture: Feeding the Future, Filling the Gaps.”
The theme presents an opportunity for students to address ways the ag industry continues to feed a growing population, and focuses specifically on how today’s producers overcome challenges. Visit www.agday.org for more info about the essay contest. (Ill. Corn Daily Update)

Illinois Farm Fact:
Tax credits for ethanol have been in place since 1979 to encourage the growth of the country’s ethanol industry with the goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil while reducing harmful emissions. (Illinois Corn)

(Tim Alexander is a freelance reporter who writes agriculture, news and feature articles for the News Bulletin, Farm World and many other publications.)