When you hear the word homegrown, what comes to mind? Probably fresh vegetables from your own garden, or the Christmas tree that you got from the farm just down the road.

No matter what it's referring to, homegrown is associated with a certain expectation. And when it comes to fuel, ethanol is the gold standard.

According to Growth Energy—a proactive organization that represents the production and utilization of ethanol—the industry created and supported 400,000 new jobs across the country in 2009 alone, that cannot be exported or outsourced.

And from a national security perspective, "Homegrown means that we're less dependent upon people like Dictator Chavez and the oil sheiks," Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) explained to his colleagues in the Senate chamber last month.

This statement was made in defense of the current ethanol policies that provide domestic fuel producers a 45-cent tax credit per gallon. Recently, these tax credits have come under fire as opposing members of the Senate have called for the tax credits to expire.

Not a rookie at having to defend ethanol—a policy which is consistently targeted by other (bigger) fuel industries-Senator Grassley went on to point out that the reason the tax incentives were implemented to begin with, was to protect a domestic fuel supply and reclaim energy independence from foreign governments.

These are the same reasons that certain incentives were recently extended for oil and gas, Senator Grassley pointed out in his appeal to fellow members of the Senate.

"Opponents of the Sanders amendment [to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act H.R. 4213] argued that repealing the oil and gas subsidies would reduce domestic energy production and drive up our dependence upon foreign oil. Now, opponents to the Sanders amendment argued that it would cost U.S. jobs and increase prices at the pump for consumers… I agreed with the arguments of the opponents. All of my Republican colleagues and more than one-third of the Democrats did as well. Thus, Senator Sanders' amendment was defeated. Well, guess what? I know that removing incentives for oil and gas will have the same impact as removing incentives for ethanol. We'll get less domestically produced ethanol and be more dependent upon those oil sheiks. But it will also cost U.S. jobs. It will increase our dependence on foreign oil. It will increase prices for American consumers. So whether it's jobs or increased dependence or increasing the price of gas, no American would like that to be the result."

Senator Grassley makes a very important point. While the ethanol industry, just 30 years young, is still in its infant stages compared to the century-old oil industry, which still enjoys $35 billion worth of subsidies annually in addition to what amounts to a lock on 85 percent of the market.

In response to a letter sent by opponents suggesting that the ethanol tax credits be left to expire, a bipartisan group of fifteen senators sent a letter of their own to Senators Reid and McConnell, urging that they allow extension of the ethanol tax credit at the current level.

"Allowing the provisions to expire or remain expired would threaten jobs, harm the environment, weaken our renewable fuel industries, and increase our dependence on foreign oil," wrote the group, an argument that was further articulated on the floor by Senator Grassley.

"Our country is spending over $730 million a day on imported petroleum this year, money that often ended up in the hands of unstable or unfriendly governments. This is not the time to reduce the supply of a domestic source of fuel and place at greater risk the thousands of well-paying jobs that the renewable fuels industry has created."

Aside from being cleaner than diesel fuel or gasoline, ethanol, when used as a transportation fuel, lowers gas prices 20 to 35 cents per gallon. "Ethanol is the available, affordable alternative to gasoline today that can move our nation toward a cleaner and more secure energy future," commented Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis in a recent press release.

"An extension of the credit will give the industry certainty, and Congress the opportunity, to move forward with reforms that will remove the infrastructure barriers to the fuels market..."

The ethanol industry is not part of your typical urban empire but is made up of farmers from all across the country. Bushmills Ethanol for example, is a farmer-owned Minnesota-based cooperative that began in 2005, consists of 415 farmers who produce roughly 49 million gallons of ethanol per year.

These corn and ethanol producers have experienced first hand, from both personal and business perspectives, the effects that these tax credits have had on producers and rural America in general and are not willing to give that up without a fight.

After all, there are 400,000 Americans employed by the ethanol industry. An industry that is saving the average American household between $150-$300 per year and contributed $53.3 billion to the nation's GDP in 2009 alone.

Sounds to us like that's a track record worth fighting for.