The National Chicken Council wants the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce volumes proposed in the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Comments submitted to the EPA last week by NCC claim that given the  current crop year, the volume proposal is “overly aggressive, overly reliant on corn-based ethanol, and will likely cause disruptions to the nation’s feed supply.”

NCC President Mike Brown says the volumes should be reduced  “to more accurately reflect the availability of feedstock and the usage rate of biofuels.”

The organization claims that since the RFS began in 2007, broiler producers have faced $68.5 billion in higher feed costs for the production of broiler meat.

NCC believes that the potential for supply disruption and a resulting similarly destructive pattern as 2008, 2012 and 2013, poses a threat to the broiler industry during the 2020 RFS compliance year and 2019/2020 crop year.

Brown says in 2008 and 2012, chicken producers were denied protection from the impact of the RFS mandate during times of market volatility.