Perdue Reaffirms Support for Ethanol, RFS

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue spoke at the Commodity Classic this week and defended his support for the Renewable Fuels Standard. A DTN report says that Perdue told farmers attending the event that President Trump unequivocally supports the RFS, corn farmers, and ethanol. The biofuel industry and corn farmers are concerned that the secretary doesn’t understand the importance of Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINS, to the biofuels industry. Corn farmers had heard RINs were one of the topics of conversation at the White House during the Tuesday biofuels meeting. While speaking to hundreds of the nation’s corn, soybean, wheat, and sorghum farmers, Perdue says he’s beginning to understand the president’s frustration with “fake news.” The secretary has been under fire since Tuesday due to the idea of possible changes to RINs standards. Perdue said, “Hear me clearly, all of you. I will not, and have not, supported any policies in this country that would diminish demand, undermine the RFS, and are harmful to our agriculture producers. I will not.”