Conservative Republican Kingmaker Pigged Out on Farm Subsidies

This weekend, Republican candidates for President will head to the first-ever Iowa Agriculture Summit to pledge their fealty to “free markets” and “smaller government.”

Their host? Bruce Rastetter, a pork-and-ethanol baron who has collected more than $300,000 in federal farm subsidies and who made millions from a government mandate for ethanol.

At the same time Rastetter was making millions in the pork industry, he was also collecting subsidies for corn, oats and wheat. He may have also collected federal crop insurance subsidies, but those records are not publicly available.

After selling his pork business, Rastetter launched a company, Hawkeye Energy, after Congress enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard to force gasoline refiners to blend more and more corn ethanol into gasoline. He later sold Hawkeye to Koch Industries.

The corn ethanol mandate made Rastetter millions, but the Renewable Fuel Standard has been a big loser for taxpayers and consumers – who have to pay more for everything from food to gasoline to engine repairs.

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