It's not going to go away, said Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-LaCrescent.

During House floor debate on the agriculture and veterans policy bill, Tschumper, a dairy farmer, twice offered amendments attempting to strike or delay a biodiesel provision that would hike the percentage of biodiesel content in diesel fuel from two percent to 20 percent by 2015.

"This is really a big picture issue," said Tschumper on the House floor.

Tschumper charged that the increased use of biofuels - ethanol, biodiesel - is taking prime agricultural land out of food production, contributing to sharply increasing food prices seen globally.

Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-LaCrescent, reviews an amendment with a colleague prior to House debate on the agriculture bill on Thursday (April 24). Tschumper, a dairy farmer, is alarmed that the use of alternative fuels are causing food prices to climb because farmland is being used to produce energy rather than grow food.

by T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter

It's not going to go away, said Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-LaCrescent.

During House floor debate on the agriculture and veterans policy bill, Tschumper, a dairy farmer, twice offered amendments attempting to strike or delay a biodiesel provision that would hike the percentage of biodiesel content in diesel fuel from two percent to 20 percent by 2015.

"This is really a big picture issue," said Tschumper on the House floor.

Tschumper charged that the increased use of biofuels - ethanol, biodiesel - is taking prime agricultural land out of food production, contributing to sharply increasing food prices seen globally.

"I know you think I'm mistaken," said Tschumper on the House floor. "I'm absolutely certain I'm right about this," he told his colleagues.

But House Agriculture, Rural Economies and Veterans Affairs Finance Committee Chairman Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar, countered Tschumper's assertions.

Juhnke noted that biodiesel provision isn't crop specific - different crops can be used, he explained.

Animal fats, even algae - he personally thinks ultimately algae will prove the best biodiesel additive, Juhnke opined - can be used rather than crops, he argued.

Juhnke described the current escalation in food prices seen globally as the result of a multiple factors - drought in Australia, a burgeoning Chinese middle class with a taste for meats.

"We've kind of had the perfect storm," he said of merging factors.

House Agriculture, Rural Economies and Veterans Affairs Finance Committee Chairman Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar, argues that many factors have combined to increase the cost of food.