Poll Finds Support for Corn Ethanol
A nationwide survey conducted for the National Corn Growers Association finds broad public respect and trust for family farmers and support for corn as food, feed and fuel.
Ninety-five percent of those polled agreed that farmers are trusted messengers on issues such as agriculture, corn products and ethanol – and ethanol itself was supported or strongly supported as a good fuel alternative by 65 percent.
Respondents also spoke out about what they saw as the top benefits of corn-based ethanol. Thirty-four percent mentioned reduced dependence on foreign oil, 19 percent mentioned the creation of new jobs and 16 percent liked it for its environmental benefits.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. voters nationwide was conducted in mid-September by David Binder Research and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
8 Comments »
kevin
I agree, we have plenty of corn for fuel and food. Ethanol is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels. And we can make all we want right here in the good ole USA. No brainer!!
Richard
Your kidding right? When a bushel of corn can make 5 gallons of gas and cost only 1/2 a gallon to make then we might be on the same track as oil. Until then ethanol will never be a viable option. The oil companies could produce MTEB for almost nothing as a additive to make gas burn cleaner. Now we are being forced to use ethanol at twice the price to our economy?
And that as nothing to do with the warm and fuzzy feeling we have for farmers, they are just doing their jobs like everyone else in our country.
Ethanol is not the answer in it’s present form. It’s bad for the ecnomy, its bad for vehicle motors, it can’t be transported via the pipe lines, it just plain and simple costs too much to produce, transport and get to market.
Nicholas Hollis
Just another suspect “poll” aimed at distorting the truth: a majority reject ethanol as a scam and will not purchase higher ethanol blends due to reduced mileage, vehicle/engine damage.
The association commissioning the poll is a known mouthpiece for Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) – the main ethanol producer. Ask other farmers, fruit/vegetable growers, ranchers, dairy, poultry and hog producers what they think about ethanol (i.e. increased feed prices) and then ask the average consumer in a supermarket whether ethanol subsidies and resultant food price increases is worth the cost in these difficult times.
Jetty
MTBE was also found to be a severe contaminate to our ground water. How is it that ethanol is bad for our economy? In 2007 the industry paid $8 billion in taxes and saved the consumers $45 billion at the pump while increasing the GNP by over $40 billion. The industry creates U.S. jobs and displaces foreign oil. It will also lead to the next generation ethanol.
ken
When the price of oil goes back to $147/barrel we will be glad to have ethanol plants. Hopefully they can offer some competition to big oil.
David
Corn based ethanol would be a joke if it wasn’t so harmful to the nation. It takes almost as much (sometimes more) energy to produce as generated from burning. It takes a hefty (taxpayer) subsidy to make it competitive. And takes scarce (and depletable) water and land resources to produce. Cellulosic ethanol from biomass waste is better, but I question whether ethanol is the best product to be making from it. Let’s be honest — corn based ethanol is here to keep the price of corn high and volume/profits for ADM and other ethanol producers up. Period. It is the unfortunate result of intense lobbying efforts and public ignorance of the facts. It isn’t the first time we have done something stupid, and won’t be the last, unless we get more thorough and honest reporting by our press into better informed public debate.
Cindy Zimmerman
No joke, David. It is a fallacy that ethanol is energy negative, a myth perpetuated by outdated data. There are tax incentives to help build the industry – oil has tax incentives, as do many, if not most industries that are already established. Ethanol production continues to gain efficiency in terms of water usage. Cellulosic, or next generation, ethanol is only possible in the future with first generation paving the way.
Finally – most importantly – you call corn prices high?? Three bucks a bushel?? really? They were much higher last year, but the average is about 2.50 to 3 a bushel, which barely covers the cost of production. It’s not stupid to try and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and support our rural communities, which is what ethanol production does.
Dennis Bravo
It appears that a lot of people are grossly misinformed on how much energy it takes to produce a gallon of ethanol verses a gallon of gas.
Also those same people need to look at how much water is consumed to produce a gallon of gas from crude oil plus the added pollution that is produced in the process.
Ethanol can and is being transported by pipeline.
The hefty (taxpayer) subsidy that is talked about herein does not go to the ethanol producer it goes to big oil for using it!
Corn prices were higher in the early 80’s than any of those of 2006 to 2009.
It is truly the unfortunate result of intense lobbying efforts by big oil and public ignorance of the true facts regarding ethanol, some of you people need to get your facts right.
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