As far as I can tell under this Farm Bill proposal,  taxpayers would 
subsidize ethanol crops on CRP land.   Then the  landowners would harvest those crops 
and make more money.   If  the ethanol crops consisted of switchgrass or giant 
miscanthus, which seems  entirely possible,  the wildlife habitat value of 
that land would plummet,  apart from the issue of harvesting once a year.  
 
I haven't heard meaningful statements yet from the White House  or Congress, 
including our own delegation, about balancing the needs  of wildlife with the 
need for cellulose ethanol.  What I've been  hearing are statements that 
switchgrass will be great for both ethanol  and wildlife, which of course is not 
true.  (If others have heard more  enlightened statements, I'd welcome the news.)
 
If the White House and Congress are going to have an  "Ethanol Reserve 
Program" that has ethanol production as the  prime objective,  then they should be 
honest and call it by  that name and determine how to fund it from there.   
Don't ask me for  money to help pay for the Conservation Reserve Program if 
that's not what  I'm going to get in return.  
 
ch 
 

Cindy  Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
Ames, IA  50010


"The most  characteristic real song of the month is the phoebe strain of the 
chickadee. On  winter days it is delightful just because there are few other 
birds singing."  (Selden Lincoln Whitcomb describing birds around Grinnell, 
Iowa, in  1885)

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