Wake up and smell the ethanol, Iowa

The proposed carbon-capture pipelines may finally have awakened the state to the straw-house industry that is ethanol.

Rep. Ashley Hinson had to field questions during a February town hall from farmers about the pending pipelines. Constituents pointed to dangerous carbon pipeline leaks as a risk they don’t want to accept. Rep. Hinson appropriately pointed out that a carbon-capture pipeline is a result of our ethanol dependence and “like it or not (Iowans are) heavily reliant” on ethanol production. A carbon capture pipeline is just the price we have to pay for mass farming ethanol corn.

The planned Summit pipeline will run across the state, capturing carbon from ethanol plants and industrial animal farms. The carbon will then be deposited deep in the ground at a site in North Dakota. Unlike the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would have produced energy for millions, genuinely improving the lives of people, this pipeline will not have any proactive energy payoff. It will simply be reducing the emissions from industrial facilities, many of which would not have been built if not for the market demand created by the federal government. Demand which will only decrease as we make the eventual transition to electric vehicles and reduce gasoline consumption.

Farmers have been manipulated for decades by government subsidies for ethanol corn. This is not their fault. A farm is a business, it only makes sense that they grow the highest value crop in response to market prices. After all, the government wouldn’t ask them to do something that would harm our country in the long run, right? Wrong. Since the Renewable Fuel Standard took effect corn grown for fuel use increased by 4.1 billion bushels between 2004 and 2016. One researcher points out that, “In 2007, townships comprising 10 million of Iowa’s thirty-six million acres eroded faster than the government-defined sustainable rate, and 6 million acres eroded at double that rate. Despite having some of the most productive cropland in the country, Iowa has lost half of its topsoil over the last 150 years.” Although research on long term topsoil erosion still is developing, any increase in fertilizers is undoubtedly an added cost to farmers and to the environment.

Ethanol is a good and useful product. It bolsters fuel octane and has genuinely improved car emissions. Without government incentives, there would still be a need for ethanol corn. But, ethanol sales would drop significantly, solving many of the issues associated with current production levels.

Farmers are not interested in mistreating their land, often land that has been in their family for several generations. But, they still have to make choices that make economic sense and balance short term vs. long term payoffs. The high payoffs from above market price ethanol corn have disrupted the natural order of the market, and our land is suffering.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has made tough decisions during the COVID pandemic to go against the advice and pressure of the Biden Administration and keep our state open and economy running. She also has joined five states in a lawsuit challenging Biden’s authority to cancel student loan debt. The next federal dragon she should face down is federal manipulation of our agricultural market.

Climbing out of the cash-lined grave we are digging will be difficult and require courage and leadership. So far, no one has had the gumption to correct the situation. We need hope and courage for our farmers so that our future farm production-potential remains abundant.

Patricia Patnode is a Waterloo native, Loras College graduate and can be found on Twitter at @IdealPatricia