US presidential hopeful strong on ethanol

The US ethanol industry is likely to find strong support from the White House if Senator Barack Obama wins the presidential election in November.

The senator, who hails from Illinois, the second largest corn-producing state in the US, has previously given strong endorsements on ethanol, even appearing at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at an ethanol plant operated by Verasun. 

In fact, the New York Times reports, his campaign aide, Tom  Daschle, serves on the board of three ethanol companies and advises clients in renewable energy.

Ethanol is one area in which Obama disagrees with Republican candidate Senator John McCain who advocates the lifting of US tariffs on sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil.

Sugarcane-based ethanol is cheaply produced in Brazil and its production process is said to be four times more energy efficient than corn.

While McCain blasts the subsidies given to ethanol companies in the US, saying they cause inflation in the market, Obama endorses them and says he supports continued tariffs on Brazil's ethanol to lessen the country's dependence on foreign energy sources.

In the wake of rising corn prices recently, the call against ethanol have grown even stronger and is expected to intensify as recent floods wiped out large tracts of corn fields in Iowa, the top corn-producing state.

Obama's campaign said the candidate is also viewing a range of other new technology such as using switchgrass for ethanol.

Although neither candidate voted in the proposed Farm Bill, Obama said he would have supported it while McCain said he would be opposed.