(Radio Iowa) — Former U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has some advice for current AG Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is scheduled to visit Iowa tomorrow (Thursday). “First and foremost Secretary Perdue obviously needs to visit a farm. He needs to talk to farmers and he also needs to hear the concerns that have been expressed by the biofuels industry about the waivers,” Vilsack says.

The oil industry is seeking exemptions from the Renewable Fuels Standard requirement that ethanol be blended into gasoline. Vilsack says Perdue can carry the message from farm country back to Washington. “He needs to hear the fact that the EPA is sitting on 98 waivers,” Vilsack says, “that they need to be acted on and denied.” Vilsack says four billion fewer gallons of ethanol have been produced over the last several years, pushing corn prices lower.

Perdue is scheduled to take a helicopter tour over fields leveled by last month’s derecho and visit agribusinesses in the Ames area. Perdue also plans to visit a farm where wetlands have been restored.