Milling & Baking News - December 16, 2008 - 34

Industry Activities

A.B.A. notes subsidized ethanol
industry hardly in infancy
WASHINGTON - The corn-based
ethanol industry should "stand on its
own" without government subsidies,
said Robb MacKie, president and chief
executive officer of the American Bakers Association.
Mr. MacKie took advantage of the
30th anniversary of subsidies on cornbased ethanol to point out that government assistance could no longer
be described as startup money for a
nascent effort.
"Ethanol supporters argue that
subsidies are necessary because the
industry is still in its infancy," Mr.

MacKie said. "It seems strange to say
a 30-year-old, multi-billion dollar program is still in its beginning stages. It's
time for the 30-something, cornbased ethanol industry to act its
age and stand on its own."
Lee Sanders, A.B.A. senior
vice-president of government
relations and public affairs, said
corn prices remain above historical averages, notwithstanding sharp recent declines.
"As long as demand increases for
corn for fuel instead of food and feed
due to the increases in the ethanol man-

TEGMA announces program for
annual meeting
KANSAS CITY - Members of the Transportation, Elevator and Grain Merchants
Association will meet Jan. 29-30 in Scottsdale, Ariz., at their annual meeting to discuss breathtaking challenges the grain industry confronted in the past 12 months
and the outlook for 2009.
Mike Mandl, TEGMA's chairman and

operations manager, Louis Dreyfus Corp.,
Kansas City, said the meeting program
was another step in the association's effort to create a "new" TEGMA to better
address operational and business issues
facing its members.
Confirmed speakers for the meeting include Darius Gaskins Jr., partner, Norbridge,

Malawi head of state honored by F.A.O. on agricultural progress
ROME - Bingu wa Mutharika, president
of Malawi, has been awarded the Agricola Medal by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations. Mr.
Mutharika was honored because of what
the F.A.O. described as his "substantial
contribution toward transforming the
country's economy from a state of food
deficit to a net exporter of maize."
A landlocked country in southeast Africa, Malawi is situated just to the west of

date, prices for all basic foodstuffs will
continue to increase as food and fuel
crops compete for decreasing farmland," Ms. Sanders said.
Mr. MacKie described the subsidy
as "nothing more than a pork project
gone bad."
He said the industry has never
managed to be a cost effective, efficient, food neutral and environmentally-friendly fuel source.
"It's time to focus on more
efficient, less damaging secondgeneration fuels," he said.
The A.B.A. wants to cut or
eliminate the import tariff and
domestic blender's credit on ethanol,
as well as lowering the federal mandate
specifically for corn-based ethanol. MBN

Mozambique. Population is estimated at
about 13 million.
Mr. Mutharika was honored Nov. 27
at a ceremony in the Malawi capital of
Lilongwe. Jacques Diouf, F.A.O. directorgeneral, noted that Malawi is expected
to generate 8% economic growth in 2008
despite sharply rising food and energy
prices earlier in the year.
Credit for the improved conditions, according to the F.A.O., goes to the adoption

Inc., (retired president and chief executive
officer of Burlington Northern Railroad);
Randall Jones, deputy administrator, Grain
Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; Bill Lapp, Advanced Economic
Solutions; Dave Lehman, director, commodity research and development, the C.M.E.
Group; Peter Lopoukhine, director, structured trade finance, Lloyds TSB Bank plc;
David Lyons, vice-president, Louis Dreyfus
Commodities, Washington, and John Skelley, general manager, Pinal Energy, L.L.C. MBN
of an agricultural Input Subsidy Program,
piloted by Mr. Mutharika's government.
"The country has succeeded in restoring national food security by increasing
access to fertilizer and improved seeds by
poor farmers and other vulnerable population groups," the F.A.O. said.
Mr. Diouf also credited Malawi as one
of only a few nations that has met the
2003 agreement among African heads of
state to devote at least 10% of the government budget to agriculture. MBN

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34 / December 16, 2008

Milling & Baking News

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Milling & Baking News - December 16, 2008

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