NFU joined a coalition of organizations in support of testimony presented by Agriculture Energy Coalition Co-Director Ryan Stroschein to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry. In the testimony, the coalition called on Congress to ensure robust funding for the 2012 Farm Bill Energy Title.
“Rural America has been at the epicenter of our nation’s emerging new renewable energy and bioproducts industries, and farmers, ranchers, rural small businesses and rural economies have already begun to realize the benefits,” Stroschein said during the testimony. “American agriculture, and the rural communities it supports, have demonstrated that they have the vision, entrepreneurialism, optimism, and tenacity to continue to develop these important and lucrative new industries if provided the tools to do so.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the Rural Energy for America Program saved or created 15,000 jobs between 2009 and 2011.
“The energy title is simultaneously provides critical investments in rural America and leads to the commercialized development of second generation renewable fuels,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “We can also become more energy independent by producing renewable fuels here in the United States.”
Leave a Reply