The Video Conference hosted by the group vocus on Rural America. Thank you for joining us today. Tos is a different approach a press event for me and i think for most everybody that is going to participate this morning. Out,e eager to try this ,nd hope if we make a mistake muting you again, please forgive us. I will introduce the speakers as we go and we will hold the questions until the end. Our communication director is running the news button and the chat sidebar on zoom, so if you have any questions, please just namea note there with your and she will call on you. You are final call for questions at the end. As you know, our country and the world are grappling with this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and i sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and , and thatgetting by you are practicing social distancing and taking necessary precautions. We do appreciate you making time for us today to do this event. I am in Monroe County and the southern part of the state and i ed here alland work of my life. I cofounded focus on rural 2017 towith a friend in ensure that communities like ours continue to have a voice solve help policymakers rural economic issues. 2008, as Lieutenant Governor, i led the Emergency Task force after the massive flooding at the eastern part of the state and worked alongside Police Officers and state troopers, the national guard, fema, as they rescued and sheltered families. This was to aid those who are affected by the storm, support the Health Workers and get employees, employers like universities and utility companies, ethanol plants, Small Businesses back to work as quickly as possible. We really worked aggressively to help as many businesses as we could, and if they were not operating within a few weeks, then they thought the probability to ever open again was probably gone. I know this pandemic is different. It has hit the country very hard. However, having lived in having lived and worked in Rural America my entire life, both for disasters and working after their crisis, and ithe challenges know that no matter what we do, social distancing will have economic consequences. We can already see them. It is critical that are nations leaders Work Together to contain this virus into prevent disasters longterm. The Health Reality is that we need to avoid an outbreak and Rural Communities. We have already seen the impact of limited resources on the metropolitan hospitals across the country. Our rural towns and counties face a different system in terms of care. Four years rural hospitals across the nation have been closing. 2005, so it isce the remaining hospitals functions, we are at a physician shortage here, with a number of cases per 100,000 people have outpaced the state of new york. They do not have a hospital or a single resident physician. Our rural hospitals and clinics are requesting that shark custom to sending emergencies elsewhere , and when the nearby hospitals in addition our economy is in a covid19, prior to theres been worker to educate about the problems here. Andonable Housing Stock lack of the internet, right now we are managing to manage covid19, and must manage it and await to protect communities from the fallout which unfortunately is going to be very difficult for them to recover. Outbreak, farm income was down by half compared , tradethousand 13 cost iowa in 2018 had 2 billion in gross state product. In 2019 arm finis continue to erode as 44 of growers struggled to cover costs. Waivers wereery going to companies as big as exxon allowing them to differ to 4 billion galya galleons of fuel into the market. Jobs. E lost in 2019 john deere laid off many , and jobs at john deere and bio plants provide Rural Americans with good paying jobs which benefit and ensure those here in our communities. Today the jobs are at real risk. Did mr. Risch and has continuously promised to do right by our producers but time and time again they meet with executives to determine the next handout. Yesterday i was State University eased information day i read that the administration was considering paying oil drillers to leave oil in the ground. We are facing tough times. We must do our best to keep americans healthy and take care of our medical providers and to address the economy. We cannot structure aid packages so that only the big survive. Alongmom and pop shops with town squares and the job agricultureoss continue to take the hit. This is not sustainable, and it will kill our small towns. Tothe president is going invite Oil Executives to a meeting at the white house, i believe he should do the same for the Biofuel Industry, the same thing for medical leaders across the country, the Service Industry and labor. Veryone must be representative we cannot provide bailouts for cruise ships and Oil Companies and expect that our rural economic engine will get back in order. Here to help us to talk about Rural America and about our farmers is rob larue, the president of the National Farmers union. After growing up on a dairy farm in west virginia, rob has worked on Agricultural Policy for more than 20 years overseeing the the and 2014 farm bill with Agriculture Committee and. Orking with congress thank you for joining us. I will turn it over to you. Is rob live . R ok. Rob ok. I appreciate the introduction, and obviously this conversation today about the extraordinary needs that are facing our family farms and Rural Communities at this time. Normally a very optimistic time, a hopeful time for farmers as they prepare the fuel the field to get crops out there, but this is no ordinary spring as we all know. This is i will just repeat, that coming on the heels of some really tough past years, farmers are financially stretched to the brink across all commodities and livestock, and the recent disruptions in market changes are just sending those operations in more dire straits at this time. That said, farmers continue to produce food in abundance and although there has been some reports out there of concerns about grocery shelves and so forth, the fact is the supplies are strong, the food is available, products continue to be produced, and the disruptions in the supply chain should be worked out in short order. We know there are challenges with connecting that surplus of food to those in most need, they hunger community, but we expect those situations to be remedied. Theseaid, what disruptions have shown us is that the markets still have room to go down. For Dairy Farmers, we are ready losing in states like wisconsin, they have very recently seen a 30 drop in what were already and quite frankly that were not sustainable. The pressure is much stronger. That is also true in our livestock for independent ranchers. They also have seen huge, 20 five30 drop in the value of livestock and we also unfortunately are seeing price concerns there, where the market signals are not playing out we have huge consolidation in that industry. We are urging that the administration and the Justice Department continue to do Everything Possible to make sure these markets are working well, that people are not price gouging consumers at this point need a strong supply of products. Are also need ones that priced appropriately. Conversely, farmers need to be sure that they also are getting a fair price on the marketplace. This does not always mean that it is the case. Has been exacerbated by the closures and slowdowns across the processing, not only in the highprofile cases in the livestock industry. Some plants in iowa and also cases up in sioux falls at the closure there because of the workers struggling. Example,re seeing an while the food supply is strong, there is also a huge consolidation in the processing industry here. As we look at a response from the administration, we need to make sure, as was mentioned before, that the responses targeted and given to those communities and those farmers who are doing the work out there, making sure they remain strong. This is what is going to keep the Rural Community strong. Judge Lieutenant Governor referenced, health care is a formers concern. There are big parts of these communities, and it is what keeps them strong and we knew going into this that Rural Health Care systems were already struggling. I have half the access to hospitals and clinics as their suburban and urban counterparts and 1 10 of the access to specialists. Thathighlights the need need to get out there. In addition, as we think about these communities, and that only the impact on the farms, we know that as Small Businesses struggle and as ethanol plants close, those are good paying jobs. In a lot of cases where farmers who are struggling with low are helpinge jobs to keep the family going. This is affecting the communities there and there is a lot of infrastructure that is being highlighted that needs to be hit as we look at what the Current Administration is going to be doing. It needs to be swift, targeted, and it needs to be done looking towards the longterm viability of these communities and for family farmers. Ande look at Food Security the consolidation that we have there, we need as many farms as possible, more diversity in the processing end to make sure the supply and security remain strong not only for those Rural Communities but obviously for the country. We are working very closely with the administration to make sure those messages are getting out there. The impact of losing biofuels , as wellcessing jobs as the very direct and real impact on family farmers who are coming off several years downturn, this is just putting tremendous pressure. We know we are going to ultimately lose some farms. This administration has a choice in whether or not actions will accelerate the consolidation or hopefully slow it down. With that, i will turn it over. Also, you will have the opportunity to answer some questions that we will have. Our nextll introduce guest, the trade association represents many ethanol supporters around the country working to give consent consumers clean and affordable fuel. , the platform is yours. Be unmutedem to here. Governor, i think you did a fantastic job. Before i get into the specifics of how the ethanol industry has been impacted. I want to give you a sense of the scope of the impact of the industry on our communities. The plants are kind of the beating heart of the world economy. Not only do they provide skills and compensated jobs for Rural Communities, they provide markets for farmers, sanitizer for hospitals, feed for livestock operators, clean fuel co2 for meatpackers and water treatment. So they reach far and wide. If you look at what the industry is expensing right now, it is unprecedented like so much of what we are experiencing, unlike anything we have experienced before. Cameu said, our industry into covid19 already under significant economic duress. 2019 was one of the toughest years in recent memory for ethanol producers because they faced historic floods at hostile regulators. The influx of exemptions coming out of the epa meant that we were really in pretty dire straits for we faced the downturn of covid19. Compounded with the fact that down, we are is not surprised. We are not driving. The impact of that is the demand is down and if you look at the numbers, they are pretty staggering. These are the numbers from last numbers. Government but they give you a pretty good indicator. Production down 43 . And eight. 7are at billion gallon production at half of the industry is offline right now. Ethanol stocks are at record highs. We have more than one billion stockede gallons right now. Many plants have shutmany plant. About 30 have been very public in saying weve had to shut down, we had to furlough, but that number is a fraction of the number of plants that have been impacted over a dozen states, including minnesota, michigan, wisconsin, iowa, ohio, and so forth. If you look at the impact of these amount of ethanol plants offline, you analyze that, thats about 2. 5 billion bushels of corn demand that is not going to be ground. Ethanol is the most important market to maintain steady grain prices. Those plants that are operating right now are operating at a civic and loss. The typical plant right now is losing about 0. 37 per gallon. Perhaps they are operating to maintain their contracts, perhaps because they are trying to do what they can to maintain their workforce. Some are doing this because they want to be able to provide ethanol to the Hand Sanitizer market. We are very glad that we are able to participate in that Public Health response. But it is a pretty dire situation for the industry, and what we need is strong government leadership in government support. We need usda to be there with us, making sure you can support this critical sector so that we can get through the worst of the crisis and then be in a position to potentially recover and return to our momentum. So we need immediate assistance, we need lifting of the regulatory burdens that prohibit the momentum and growth behind higher blends of ethanol, and we need some regulatory certainty. This is a prickle situation. A critical situation. Weve got to support vital producers in iowa and across the country. We are in a really dangerous place right now. The president s meeting personally with Oil Executives to negotiate their buyout bailout. If we are going to provide gas, weid to oil and must do the same thing for ethanol. This is not rocket science. Ofneed to address the needs every industry impacted by this pandemic and support all of our communities. , feel very strongly about this and if these meetings are taking place, then they forgot to send me my invitation. But i been but i do not believe that to be true, and it is critical that the Biofuels Industry be at the table and that they are included in whatever assistance is being offered other industries across our country. Last but not least, i am going to introduce to you my good island andlow fellow iowan, the secretary of agriculture. He served as secretary of agriculture for all of the years of the obama administration, and previously served as i was isaiah was as iowas governor. Thank you for everyone on the call today. Certainly appreciate robs and emilys contribution. Rate o make and rear and reiterate some of the points previously made. Prior to the virus, we were dealing with a food and agriculture industry prickly important to the future of the united states. 20 of the entire workforce was connected in some way. 20 of our economy was connected to that industry of food and agriculture. We certainly have seen the importance of that industry in the virus situation. The folks producing our food, processing or food, retailing the food, transporting it, are on the front lines of maintaining the health and where phil health and welfare of our families. First, id like to express appreciation for those folks on the front lines who continue to do the good work of maintaining the supply of food that rob talked about, and hes absolutely right. We just have to make sure the supply gets connected to the demand. Emilys point about the ethanol Industry Needs to be underscored. This is an industry that, prior to 2019, was providing stable markets for farmers and their products, and it was also providing hundreds of thousands of jobs in Rural Communities across the united states, good paying jobs that also provided good benefits. In many cases, these workers at ethanol facilities had the ability to obtain Health Insurance, which allowed their families the security of having Health Insurance, and were able oftentimes to be part of families that, because they had Health Insurance and a decent job, they were able to maintain their farming operation, even if it was a small one. In addition to the jobs in the stable markets, this is an industry that obviously provided consumers choice, and reduced the cost to all of us in terms of transportation fuels. So there was an important industry. But in 2019, we saw first and foremost the impact of the trade war with china. No longer as easily exported to china because of tariffs. That was followed by the epa making decisions concerning waivers over the course of the as emilyral years, and indicated, that has taken billions of gallons of production out of the renewable fuel standard. A dispute between saudi arabia and russia which dropped oil prices, which created further pressure on the ethanol industry. So we entered this virus in a difficult circumstance, seeking help and assistance, now what we have is a circumstance which, because of the virus, we have a shut down virtually of all of the food Service Industry in the united states, which obviously has impacted and disrupted the supply chain, which is impacting and affecting all workers, all producers. Crop producers, dairy producers. Commodities of all kinds are being impacted and affected. So this is a difficult circumstance and situation, that the ethanol industry and american agriculture finds itself in. Important, io be think, for the administration and for usda to be very forthright about the assistance it can provide, and very creative. As ive said in a number of interviews, it is time for the usda to minimize the barriers to getting Food Supplies out to people in need and tim