BioFuels Journal

Kansas Corn Growers Association Applauds Outing of GMA Ethanol Misinformation Campaign

In early May, the Kansas Corn Growers Association put out a news release pointing to rumors of a multi-million dollar public relations campaign against ethanol funded by the food manufacturering industry.

This week, Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, outed the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s smear campaign.

On Thursday, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley went a step further, making a statement about the campaign on the Senate floor.

The Senator also posted the GMA request for proposal as well as the public relations campaign proposal from Washington, DC firm Glover Park which was one of the P.R. firms hired for the job.

The Kansas Corn Growers Association along with the National Corn Growers Association thanked Senator Grassley and Roll Call for reporting on the disinformation campaign.

Corn growers will continue to combat these well-funded public relations campaigns with facts.

“Commodity prices account for less than 20 percent of the cost you pay for food at the checkout. Even today’s higher commodity prices have very little effect on the price of food.

"The other 80 percent of the grocery costs which include transportation, packaging and processing are greatly affected by rising energy costs,” according to KCGA Executive Director Jere White.

“We’re not saying it doesn’t cost more to produce groceries today, but main culprit is not the farmer, not higher grain prices and not ethanol.”

The public relations proposal prepared for GMA suggested several tactics.

“First, we must obliterate whatever intellectual justification might still exist for corn-based ethanol among policy elites. ... Second, we must demonstrate to policy makers at the state and federal level that there is a political price to allowing ethanol policy to drive up the cost of food,” the Glover Park firm’s proposal stated.

Senator Grassley read a statement on the Senate floor Thursday chastising GMA for its tactics.

“They’ve outlined their strategy of using environmental, hunger and food aid groups to demonstrate their contrived “crisis,” Grassley said.

“I think it’s important for policy-makers and the American people to know who’s behind this effort.”

The GMA has already been successful in getting this misinformation into stories by the national and regional news media outlets

“We are asking the public and our policy makers to look past the rhetoric and misinformation being manufactured by high powered Washington DC public relations firms, and simply use some common sense and look at the facts,” White said.

“Look at your own budget—the main driver in increased spending in your house is higher fuel and energy costs.

"The same holds true for grocery manufacturers and for farmers alike. It doesn’t make sense to go after the ethanol industry, which is adding 7 billion gallons of refined fuel to our nation’s energy supply.

"Without ethanol, our energy costs would be even higher.”

NCGA President Ron Litterer said corn growers were disappointed the food manufacturers took this action.

“It is simply unfathomable that food companies through the Grocery Manufacturers Association chose to smear their farmer-suppliers rather than cooperate with us to meet the growing challenge for America’s fuel needs,” Litterer said.

“Unfortunately, from what we’ve heard this is not the only campaign in the works to place the blame on agriculture.”

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