A recent study entitled Economic Impacts to U.S. Biofuels, Agriculture and the Economy from Subsidized Electric Vehicle Penetration was released by the Agricultural Retailers Association.  The authors, Dr. Daniel Ugarte and Ken Ditzel are affiliated with the University of Tennessee.  The conclusions of the study were that conversion from internal combustion engines to electric propulsion by 2035 would reduce consumption of ethanol by 90 percent and biodiesel by 61 percent to quantities of 1.1 billion gallons and 0.8 million gallons respectively.  Decreased use of biofuels would reduce annual corn demand by 2.0 billion bushels and soybeans by 470 million bushels.  This could result in a 50 percent drop in the price of corn to $1.74 per bushel and soybeans would fall 44 percent to $4.92 per bushel. Collectively reduced demand for biofuels would decrease net farm income by $27 billion annually.

Although the figures developed in the study project the situation from 2035 through 2050, it is evident that currently the livestock industry and other users of corn and soybeans are currently supporting row-crop agriculture and biofuel producers through the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate.

EGG-NEWS has consistently maintained that the entire biofuels system supported by corn and soybean state legislators represents an indirect tax on all who eat and drive.  Since the U.S. is self-sufficient in energy and is no longer dependent on potentially adversarial supply nations, it would now be appropriate to phase out mandates. This would allow a structured transition of the artificially created ethanol and biodiesel industries to adapt to the realities of electric-powered passenger vehicles and trucks.