Vilsack pledges guarantees on loans to ethanol producers

Des Moines Register
by PHILIP BRASHER & DAN PILLER • business@dmreg.com • March 1, 2009

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be providing loan guarantees to help struggling ethanol producers.

In a speech to the USDA's annual agriculture outlook conference, he said the USDA "has a responsibility for keeping an eye on that industry" to maintain an infrastructure to produce the next generation of biofuels.

Vilsack said later that the USDA is pushing banks to "make sure that the terms and conditions of the loans are more favorably inclined."

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