Familiar challenges on biofuels, environment, subsidies await Vilsack

Des Moines Register
By PHILIP BRASHER • pbrasher@dmreg.com • December 18, 2008


Washington, D.C. — Tom Vilsack will have plenty on his to-do list at the U.S. Agriculture Department, and a lot of it will look familiar to an Iowan.One of the biggest challenges he will face is dealing with the growing global demand for crops for food and fuel and managing the effects of that farm production on the environment.

No state has been more affected by the growth in biofuel production than Iowa, where livestock farms have been paying higher prices for feed, and increased fertilizer use for corn is threatening water quality. If crop prices soar again as they did this year, he could face pressure to release idled cropland from a federal conservation program.

Read the full story