“A solution’s not going to come overnight. We’re obviously in a transition in our economy due to a lot of factors, and it’s going to be extremely painful.”

The CEO of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association says feeder costs have doubled.

“Our members have been marketing cattle at a loss of one hundred to two hundred dollars per head loss.”

“Our corn prices continue to be high and likely are going significantly higher because of the short corn crop that’s shaping up in the United States this year.”

“They are still our number one customer for feed grain, the livestock producer, the poultry producer. We get those guys over the hump and help them stay in business, we maintain our longevity of our grain markets for a lot longer.”

Dee Vaughn farms and serves as a director on the Texas Corn Producers Board. He maintains that ethanol is a net win for consumers.

“Gasoline prices cheaper by forty two cents a gallon. Well, that more than offsets what they’re paying in higher food costs.”

But the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association chief economist says we haven’t seen the long-term effects on retail prices yet.

“Over time the supply of beef in the grocery store will decrease and the price of beef will go up.”

Mark Williams farms and ranches in Lubbock.

“Our cost of production on grain has gone up so much that we need these higher prices.”

“The controversy is over, well is it right to create a government mandate that benefits one segment of agriculture but punishes another segment?”

“In the sense of a subsidy benefiting one producer at the expense of another, what it really does is distort the market, and what it does is something that government is something unfortunately does best. Government is very, very good at making things cost more. Government is very, very bad at allowing things to cost less.”