(Marshall County, IN) - An area farmer was disappointed at the speech from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack at last week’s Commodity Classic in Houston.

 

Joe Stoller, who raises corn and soybeans at his farm in Marshall County, was among the 11,000 registered attendees at the Commodity Classic, which ran from February 28th to March 2nd. 

 

The annual convention and trade show of the wheat, corn, soybean, and sorghum industries is also a place for much of the agriculture community to gather and discuss everything from the latest equipment and technology to pressing policy issues.

 

Stoller, who’s also a member of the Indiana Soybean Association, said he wanted to hear more of an update on the proposed yearlong sale of E-15 and the possibility of creating Aviation Fuel from corn and soybeans. However, he said, Vilsack focused more on how farmers can benefit from taking part in climate change-related issues such as carbon capture to provide another source of income for producers.

 

“I think he’s trying to sell some of the climate-based initiatives and carbon credits and all of that sort of stuff in that way,” he said.

 

Stoller said he also wasn’t pleased that Vilsack appeared on the same stage as U.S. EPA administrator Michael Regan, who also spoke. He said it seemed as if the two of them were now “in bed together, which is kind of scary I think.”

 

Stoller said his fear is USDA and EPA working together will result in farmers being mandated to take part in land management practices like planning cover crops and no-till farming to absorb more carbon from the air and store it in the ground through the roots of their crops. He’s also worried about more regulations that would require already hard-working farmers to keep more records of various data to make sure they’re in compliance.

 

“They claim nothing will be mandated. It’ll all be market-based and you’ll get paid for what you want to do. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know,” he said.

 

He said he wanted more of an update than was given about the proposed sale of an E-15 blend of gasoline sold year-round and Aviation Fuel because they would increase his profit margins.

 

Currently, the two biggest customers for his corn are ethanol plants.

 

“It was just kind of a lot of hot air,” Stoller said.