House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson puts ethanol second only to the hog industry in priority to get some kind of assistance to mitigate losses this year due to coronavirus restrictions.

“Because of the price of oil collapsing and people not driving…and also these waivers that have been given out by the administration, which should have never been considered,” Peterson said during the Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit on Monday. “If we had 15 billion gallons we wouldn’t be having the kind of problems we’re having in the ethanol industry.”

Peterson would like to see producers receive 45 cents a gallon based on their January to April production, or from 2019 if they were shut down. “And that needs to happen too or we’re going to lose some of these plants.” he said.

However, the chairman from Minnesota expressed concern that getting back into the habit of ad hoc disaster aid for agriculture could be detrimental to farm policy going forward.

Listen to Rep. Peterson’s comments in this interview with Agri-Pulse reporter Phillip Brasher.
AgriPulse Summit Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) (27:18)