Iowa ethanol backers share concerns with Rob Sand

Producers worry about competition, market growth and environmental blame

NEVADA -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand did more listening than talking Tuesday during a meeting with members of Iowa's ethanol industry at Lincolnway Energy in Nevada.

Sand participated in a briefing and toured the biorefinery, which came online in 20o6, as part of his 100 Town Hall Tour.

There are currently 42 operational biorefineries in Iowa producing more than 5 billion gallons per year. The state produces approximately 28-30% of all fuel ethanol in the U.S., according to Story County farmer Bill Couser.

"There's volatility, but we've created demand for the product here," said Couser, who asked Sand to support year-round E15. He showcased Brazil; its current ethanol fuel blend is E32, or 32% ethanol.

"They're just walking away with this game," Couser said, "and how do we stay competitive?"

One solution? Diversification of Iowa's ag industry, said Scott Henry, a fourth-generation Nevada farmer. With the complexities of agriculture in the industry today, diversification has been one way to continue to grow the industry, he said, and finding domestic end users for their product.

"There's very few parts of our state where you can, from five miles from our headquarters, you can have a rail facility co-op, you can have a corn ethanol plant, and you have cellulosic and a corn ethanol plant next door," Henry said.

A challenge, he said, is that it's not getting any easier and requires significant capital investment.

"And it's not getting any easier to try and deploy capital into furthering our operation, whether we're fighting with groups that don't understand livestock production, with groups that don't understand what we're doing on the farm to clean up Iowa's waters and to keep them clean and to manage our nitrogen load," Henry said.

He said farmers have a target painted on their backs at times and there is a disconnect between what people think they are doing and what they are actually doing.

"The last thing I want to do is take anhydrous ammonia and put it on every acre in the fall without a nitrogen stabilizer. It's not only like environmentally wrong, it's economically stupid," Henry said. "So, we're out here utilizing four different sources of nitrogen, applying it at different times, the bulk of it going on either right ahead of the plant or in this crop season. And nobody out here seems to understand that story."

Sand said this is why it's important for people to talk to each other. "I think if we listen to each other more, we end up actually understanding our own thinking better and getting to the place where we can actually put together solutions that most people agree with."

Tim Couser, who farms with his father, said it was important to him that he "pitch" Sand on the importance of ethanol to young farmers.

"That (ethanol) is our market. That's our demand structure. If you're a farmer in the corner of the state of Iowa, you're outside of the metropolitan area, you know, most of what you have is agriculture. And people leave those small towns because there's no market," Tim Couser said. "And the cardinal sin with the consumer with ethanol is they think that the corn goes to an ethanol plant and the buck stops there. And they forget about the feed and the oil that comes off the back to feed the livestock. And then the investment in it, too."

Tim Couser was the youngest investor in Lincolnway Energy at 18 while still in high school. He said he is also very concerned about Iowa's water quality.

"I do truly believe that in the future, technology will play a part in solving this water quality issue," he said. "So, one thing you've got to be careful about is looking at it today and saying this is the problem, and the only way we can solve it is with today's current solutions."

"You started this by saying you want to pitch me on ethanol," Sand responded. "I'd reframe that in your mind, for where it comes to me personally, because when I hear people talking negative about agriculture in Iowa or about ethanol, one of the first things I remind them of is: well, you (ethanol) support Iowa public schools."

"You want to have well-funded public schools?" posited Sand. "Okay, well, right now, today in the state of Iowa, we're going to want agriculture and ethanol to be doing well because we want to have roads and bridges that work. We want to have public schools that are paying teachers well and getting our kids educated. We want to have good public safety. And we can have conversations around, like you're talking about, the ways we can find to make it work better."

Sand has said he supports Iowa agriculture and ethanol, but believes carbon pipelines used to support the ethanol industry should not be allowed to use eminent domain.

Tim Couser concluded the briefing with an anecdote about U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and his wife Barbara. He sat with them in the pork tent at the Iowa State Fair while they were eating a pork sandwich.

"How cool is that in Iowa?" Tim Couser said. "And I would hope that if you become governor, that you walk down the main street of the state fair and anybody can stick their hand out. Oh, that is special to Iowa."

Listening to people is Sand's passion, he said. "I'll tell you, I do it the way I do it because I remember growing up in Decorah seeing in the newspaper that Chuck Grassley's coming to town. He'll be here on this time and this day. And I just remember thinking as a kid, yeah, that's democracy. That's how it's supposed to work. You're supposed to be able to meet the people that represent you. And that level of accessibility is really important to me."