Biofuels
The December Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor shows the farm economy will likely stay strained into 2026. As crops face tight margins, biofuels policy — especially E15 and biomass-based diesel — could influence recovery.
USDA’s Brooke Rollins says the financial details will be unveiled next week. Some groups estimate payments could total in the neighborhood of $12 billion. “There’s people that can really use them. Everyone can use them…but we’re not getting real solutions,” says one Iowa farmer.
Is EPA Reversing Course on RFS Proposal? Agency Pushes Back on Rumors as Ag Sector Awaits Final Rule
EPA’s frustration was on full display when asked about a media report suggesting the administration is considering delaying proposed cuts to incentives for imported biofuels — a key piece of EPA’s June proposal that was intended to prioritize domestic production.
Indonesia will start road safety tests for its planned B50 biofuel program early next month.
Most of the slowdown was due to a deceleration in production capacity in renewable diesel and other biofuels.
University of Minnesota soybean breeders are working to increase oil content in soybeans from around 22% to closer to 30%, a crop with higher oil that could cater to emerging demand.
If EPA allows these waivers and the backlog of SREs from 2023 to 2025, without increasing the volumes in 2026 and 2027, it will mean lower biofuels production.
Steve Censky, CEO of the American Soybean Association says, “China imports more soybeans than the rest of the world combined and so you can’t make up the loss of the China market by gaining a little bit here or there.”
The agency is acting on a backlog of more than 175-petitions from 38-small refineries dating all the way back to 2016.