Q: What did a recent USDA study project about new uses for soy-based products?
A: Last fall, I requested the USDA to analyze the correlation between the development of new soy-based products and the U.S. farm economy. It makes economic sense that diversifying a commodity's uses would generate greater demand and improve farm prices for the producer. The USDA study confirms that increased demand for soy-based products, such as biodiesel, could lead to significant economic benefits. The USDA found that expanding demand for soybean oil by 1.5 billion pounds per year would increase U.S. cash crop receipts by $5.2 billion during 2001-2010. With these facts and figures in hand, it is clear that developing renewable fuels and other soy-based products, like biodiesel, will mean a lot to the farmer's bottom line in the 21st century. And as the leading soybean producer in the nation, Iowa would stand to gain not only from the increased demand for the raw product, but also from the value-added processing, manufacturing, and service sectors that would accompany the industry.
Q: What are you doing to pave a path for increased production and use of biodiesel?
A: As a congressional leader on renewable energy, I work hard in the legislative fields and bureaucratic channels in Washington to spur research, development, investment, production and use of home-grown energy. Harvesting renewable farm-ready resources to meet our growing domestic energy needs is smart public policy. As the top Republican on the Finance Committee, I am pushing for more tax incentives at the federal level to jump-start the production of bio-based, clean energy. Renewable energy produced at home helps to reduce the nation's dependence on imported energy, lower the U.S. trade deficit, create jobs, clean up the environment, and boost the U.S. farm economy. From ethanol, to wind energy, closed-loop biomass, livestock waste and biodiesel, the time is right to tap American agriculture to offer solutions to high-priced energy shortages that are driven by Big Oil and controlled by foreign petroleum exporters.