Ethanol

American Soybean Association Clears Up E15 Stance as Senate Debate Intensifies

Thu, 14 May 2026 18:42:06 GMT

The House vote to expand year-round E15 on Wednesday should have been a clean policy victory lap for ethanol supporters. Instead, it’s become a multi-layered debate involving competing economic models, social media confusion, and an increasingly complicated Senate runway that may determine whether the win in the House actually translates into law.

The House narrowly passed legislation Wednesday allowing year-round sales of E15, 218 to 203, marking a major win for ethanol advocates and corn growers. But that bill also included reallocation of Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs), which some groups say made the bill more complicated than just a straight bill that would clear the way for year-round sales E15.

But even as supporters celebrate, the conversation around what’s actually in the bill, and who benefits most, has only intensified.

And according to the American Soybean Association, much of the online backlash in recent days is rooted in a misunderstanding of the legislation itself.

“We Support Year-Round E15. 100%.”

ASA CEO Stephen Censky told Farm Journal the organization is not opposed to year-round E15.

“Absolutely. We have always supported year-round E15. We think it’s positive,” Censky says.

But Censky argues the social media controversy stems not from the ethanol provision itself, but from additional language in the House bill that deals with Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

“It’s those other provisions that provide exemptions to small refineries that undermine that positivity,” he says, also noting that multiple independent analyses suggest those provisions could shift the broader farm economy in less favorable ways.

ASA Statement on House Passage of Year-Round E15 Legislation: pic.twitter.com/bbewbGSF6c
— American Soybean Association (@ASA_Soybeans) May 13, 2026

FAPRI Study Adds Fuel Ahead of Vote

One of those studies came from the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). Just ahead of the House vote, new modeling from FAPRI added fresh insight into the debate show that when you add in the reallocation of SREs, the House bill is a net negative for agriculture.

The analysis found that year-round E15 alone is relatively modest in its near-term market impact, largely shifting demand between corn and soybeans. But when paired with changes to Small Refinery Exemptions, the economic picture becomes more complicated.

“It takes what is really a trade-off between corn and beans and makes it an overall negative for both what the government spends and for the farm income for the sector,” says Seth Meyer, director of FAPRI.

NCGA Disputes Modeling Assumptions

After the report was released on Tuesday, groups like the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) pushed back on the recent economic analysis by both FAPRI and the CBO.

NCGA Chief Economist Krista Swanson argued that key assumptions in the studies underestimate both policy strength and adoption speed.

“Year-round E15 saves drivers money at the pump, supports America’s corn farmers and improves energy security for our country,” she says, adding that the group’s own modeling shows stronger outcomes for farm income.

ASA Pushes Back on “Corn vs. Soy” Narrative

Even though controversy swirled on social media, claiming ASA’s lack of support for the House version of the bill shows a split between corn and soybean groups, Censky rejects the idea.

“No, I mean, again, I think that comes from a misunderstanding or maybe too simplistic of looking at things,” he says. “We support year-round E15, so does NCGA.”

He points to shared support from the NCGA, while emphasizing that the disagreement centers on refinery exemption language, not ethanol blending policy itself.

“It’s those other provisions (SREs) that were attached to that bill that we have the problems with,” he says,.

Senate Outlook: A Far More Complicated Road Ahead

If the House vote represented momentum, the Senate introduces a much higher degree of uncertainty .

Washington analyst Jim Wiesemeyer says the House approval was still a meaningful breakthrough for ethanol supporters, but the path forward now runs into procedural hurdles, committee jurisdiction battles and a Senate math problem that doesn’t easily resolve.

“Senate passage remains uncertain,” Wiesemeyer notes, pointing to the fact that Clean Air Act authority tied to E15 summer sales rests largely with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, not the Senate Ag Committee.

Wiesemeyer reports while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has expressed support for including year-round E15 in a broader farm bill effort, the jurisdiction split complicates the path forward. EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito has supported compromise language similar to the House bill, but without the more controversial SRE-related reforms. Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), meanwhile, is expected to oppose expansion efforts tied to ethanol policy under Clean Air Act authority.

That leaves Senate Ag Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) in a key position, but without full control over the underlying regulatory levers.

But even Boozman was clear after the Senate vote that the House version could face resitance in teh Senate. Boozman, who akso serves as Chairman of the House Ag Committee, telling Politico the House version may not have enough support to make it through the upper chamber, saying after the vote, “I think we have a good chance to pass an E15 bill. I don’t know if it will be that one.”

Senate Ag Chair John Boozman tells @politico the House-passed E15 bill doesn’t seem likely to survive the Senate:

“I think we have a good chance to pass an E15 bill. I don't know if it will be that one.”

Reiterates he and other Rs have small and medium size refinery issues https://t.co/4suzybfgrr
— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) May 13, 2026

Even if a path emerges through committee, Wiesemeyer notes that a stand-alone bill would still need 60 votes for cloture on the Senate floor, an uphill climb given opposition from refining-state senators and lawmakers concerned about emissions, fuel volatility, and air-quality standards.

That bipartisan resistance could force supporters to consider alternative strategies.

One option, according to Wiesemeyer, is something increasingly discussed in Washington: attaching year-round E15 to a must-pass legislative vehicle later this year, such as a broader energy package, government funding bill, or end-of-year omnibus-style agreement, where controversial policy riders are often resolved in larger negotiations.

For now, Wiesemeyer’s bottom line mirrors the broader tone emerging from both the economic analysis and the policy debate: the House delivered a meaningful win for ethanol supporters, but in the Senate, the path forward is anything but settled, and the final outcome is still very much in play.

Where the Uncertainty Really Sits

Much of the debate now centers on variables that remain unresolved: how quickly E15 is adopted, how EPA interprets Renewable Fuel Standard obligations, and how aggressively Small Refinery Exemptions are implemented in practice.

Those unknowns, analysts say, will ultimately determine whether the legislation is a modest reshuffling of crop demand or a more meaningful shift in long-term farm income trends.

US House Passes Bill Allowing Year-Round Sales of E15 Gasoline

Thu, 14 May 2026 12:31:15 GMT

The U.S. House passed legislation on Wednesday that would allow nationwide year‑round sales of gasoline containing 15% ethanol, handing a major win to biofuel producers and farm groups while raising concerns among refiners about higher compliance costs.

The H.R. 1346 bill , or the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, approved by a vote of 218 to 203, would permit fuel retailers to offer E15 year‑round, removing seasonal restrictions linked to smog concerns.

The legislation would need to pass the Senate, where it needs 60% of votes, and get a signature from President Donald Trump to be enacted.

Supporters say allowing year-round E15 sales would expand biofuel demand and help lower fuel prices that have spiked since the start of the Iran war. Critics argue it risks raising costs for refiners already facing higher compliance burdens under federal biofuel mandates.

Some lawmakers have also raised fiscal concerns, with Representative James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, saying the measure will add billions to U.S. debt.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would increase direct spending by $2.7 billion while raising revenues by $0.4 billion, resulting in a net deficit increase of about $2.3 billion between 2026 and 2036, based on an assumption that the legislation would take effect in August 2026.

High fuel prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, have become a major vulnerability for President Donald Trump and his Republican party ahead of the November midterm elections.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)

House E15 Bill Could Boost Corn Prices While Pressuring Soybeans, FAPRI Finds

Tue, 12 May 2026 19:37:31 GMT

As the House prepares to vote on year-round E15 , there’s a new study out from the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) , and it’s is giving agriculture and biofuels groups an early look at what expanded year-round E15 sales and changes to Small Refinery Exemptions (SRE) could mean for farmers and rural America. While there are positives for ethanol and corn demand, the report also highlights some clear tradeoffs, especially for soybean oil, biodiesel and even short-term farm income as soybeans could be negatively impacted by the House’s legislation.

According to FAPRI Director Seth Meyer, the study’s clearest takeaway is that year-round E15 alone doesn’t dramatically reshape the farm economy in the near term, but proposed changes to small refinery exemptions could pressure farm income while increasing government spending.

Meyer says the headline is pretty straightforward. The biggest market disruptions in the analysis don’t actually come from allowing year-round E15 sales. Instead, the larger economic consequences show up when the House proposal to reduce SRE reallocations gets layered into the equation.

“The key of the report is that E15 itself is not, at least in the short term, a major disruption to the market in terms of producer incomes or government costs,” Meyer says. “It becomes mostly a tradeoff between corn and soybeans.”

SRE Allocations Changes the Story

Meyer says the study found that if it was just a clean E15 bill, the results would be different. But when you factor in the SREs, and the fact it’s still unknown on how big that volume would end up being, the House version of the bill becomes a negative for the entire agriculture sector very quickly.

“I think what was important was to put out some information that says E15 in and of itself is largely, at least in the near term, a trade-off between corn and beans,” says Meyer. “It’s good for the corn part of the balance sheet, maybe a little harder on the soybean part of the ballot sheet because there are trade-offs. But then the bill also proposes small refinery exemptions that are essentially a reduction in the mandates, and that is a negative overall. That takes what is really a trade-off between corn and beans and makes it an overall negative for both what the government spends and for the farm income for the sector.”

In FAPRI’s modeling, reducing the amount of waived refinery obligations that get redistributed across the rest of the refining sector effectively lowers Renewable Fuel Standard volumes. That shift weakens biofuel feedstock demand and creates more pressure on soybean markets and farm income.

“It is the addition of the small refinery exemptions and the proposal to not reallocate 75% of those obligations that government costs we track begin to rise and farm income begins to fall,” Meyer explains. “Those SREs are the main drivers of government costs and reductions in farm income because they are, in effect, a reduction in the RVOs or mandates.”

The FAPRI analysis looked at three scenarios tied to HR 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act:

E15 expansion alone
E15 plus 600 million gallons of SRE reductions
E15 plus 900 million gallons of SRE reductions

Under the model, E15 adoption gradually grows by 0.25% annually, eventually pushing the average ethanol blend rate to 13% by 2035. That increase would add roughly 2 billion gallons of domestic ethanol use by the mid-2030s, while simultaneously changing the balance between ethanol and biomass-based diesel under the RFS structure.

What Happens to Corn and Soybeans?

FAPRI’s findings show E15 expansion boosts corn demand and corn acreage over time. By 2035, corn prices rise about 14 cents per bushel versus baseline levels, with additional corn acres pulled into production as ethanol demand expands.

But, according to the report, the gains for corn do not translate evenly across the broader crop sector. As ethanol demand rises, biomass-based diesel demand weakens, which directly pressures soybean oil values and eventually soybean prices. That’s especially true under the SRE scenarios, where lower mandated renewable fuel volumes further reduce demand for biodiesel feedstocks.

“So while corn may benefit, a reduction in the RVO has negative implications for soybeans that outweigh those corn benefits,” Meyer explains.

The report projects soybean prices could fall between 38 and 43 cents per bushel by 2035, depending on the SRE scenario. Soybean acreage also trends lower throughout the projection period as acres shift toward corn production.

Meanwhile, soybean oil prices take an even larger hit because biodiesel absorbs much of the downside under reduced RFS obligations. Meyer says that dynamic is rooted in how current mandates are being met today.

“You see bio-based diesel decline in all cases because, at the moment, the majority of the marginal gallons to meet the mandates are biodiesel,” Meyer says. “If you expand the small refinery exemptions, those volume reductions are no longer a tradeoff between ethanol and bio-based diesel, but a reduction in the marginal gallon, which is bio-based diesel.”

Farm Income Turns Negative Before Recovering

One of the more notable findings in the study is that net farm income trends negative for several years under the SRE scenarios before eventually recovering later in the outlook period. While stronger corn demand helps offset some losses, it isn’t enough in the early years to counter the broader drag from weaker soybean and bio-based diesel markets.

Under the larger 900-million-gallon SRE scenario, net farm income falls by as much as $1 billion annually during the early 2030s before improving later in the decade. FAPRI also projects higher government outlays under the SRE scenarios as weaker commodity prices trigger additional farm program support.

Meyer says soybean losses are the biggest driver behind the weaker farm income projections. He also notes that ripple effects extend into livestock feeding costs because of tighter soybean meal supplies and higher corn demand.

“The notable driver in the outcome is the losses for soybeans as the SREs cut mandates,” he adds.

The livestock sector also sees higher feed costs as corn demand rises and soybean meal supplies tighten. Over time, those higher feed costs work their way through animal agriculture and eventually impact consumer meat prices as producers adjust inventories and production decisions.

Key Points From the Study

E15 expansion alone modestly boosts corn demand with relatively limited disruption to overall farm income.
Reduced SRE reallocation lowers effective RFS mandates and creates the largest negative impacts on crop receipts and government outlays.
Biomass-based diesel demand declines more sharply than ethanol demand under the proposed changes.
Corn acreage rises while soybean acreage falls across all scenarios.
The long-term outcome depends heavily on how quickly E15 adoption actually happens — and whether EPA eventually expands the conventional ethanol “gap” above 15 billion gallons.

That final point may be one of the biggest wildcards in the entire discussion, said Meyer. FAPRI’s analysis assumes the conventional ethanol portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard effectively remains capped near 15 billion gallons. If EPA policy or future legislation allows that cap to move higher, the economics for agriculture could look considerably different.

“You call out a very important assumption,” Meyer says. “If the passage of E15 were to drive an expansion of that 15-billion-gallon conventional gap to 16 or 17 billion gallons and raise total mandates by that same amount, this would increase benefits or reduce losses in the ag sector across all the scenarios.”

Corn Growers React, Disagrees With “Two Fundamental Assumptions”

The recent analyses examining the potential impacts of year-round E15 adoption are drawing sharp disagreement from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), which says key assumptions in those models undercut the policy’s real-world effects.

In response to the reports, Krista Swanson, NCGA’s chief economist, argued that the studies fail to account for recent federal biofuel policy changes and underestimate how quickly E15 could be adopted in the marketplace.

“We disagree with two fundamental assumptions with recent analyses related to year-round E15 adoption: they do not factor in the historically high final RVO volumes recently set for biomass-based diesel and they assume slower E15 adoption than industry projections,” Swanson says.

Swanson added that NCGA’s own modeling reaches a very different conclusion on the policy’s impact on farm income and fuel markets.

“NCGA has also conducted its own analysis of year-round E15 and all outcomes point in the same direction: E15 strengthens corn demand and farm income for corn farmers, most of whom also raise soybeans. Year-round E15 saves drivers money at the pump, supports America’s corn farmers and improves energy security for our country. H.R. 1346 deserves a yes vote.”

The Biggest Unknowns

Meyer says there are still several major uncertainties surrounding both E15 adoption and how EPA ultimately implements future RFS obligations. Those unknowns could significantly alter how these market impacts unfold over the next decade.

“I don’t think there is a single assumption on this complicated issue, so let me state three,” he adds. “First is the true path of E15 expansion and more importantly, the second is how that might drive changes in mandates as a result. Third, what is the true volume of exemptions that would result from the legislation? Because we don’t have this information, we did two scenarios.”

The pace of actual consumer adoption also matters. While the model assumes gradual E15 growth over time, Meyer says a slower adoption curve would likely soften some of the corn demand benefits while making the negative impacts tied to SRE reductions more apparent.

“If growth in E15 is slower and we look just at the ‘clean’ E15, it just changes the amount of tradeoffs between corn and soybeans,” Meyer said. “But if we had slower E15 growth with SRE reductions, we would show more negative impacts on crop prices and farm income from the SREs.”

Year-Round E15 Faces Vote In The House This Week

Mon, 11 May 2026 19:21:25 GMT

This week, the House is expected to take a vote on legislation to allow year-round E-15.

In the latest schedule published by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, HR 1356, Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025 (Sponsored by Rep. Smith (NE) / Energy and Commerce Committee) is on the calendar for Wednesday. This may be the last hurdle to enable more widespread sales of the fuel blend that includes 15% ethanol, which is compatible for use in 96% of cars on the road today.

Temporary Waivers Have Been A Band Aid

The legislation could bring clarity and predictability to issue that has been dealt with piecemeal solutions. There’s been the “summertime ban” on E15, which is typically restricted from June 1 to September 15 due to outdated volatility regulations under the Clean Air Act. Proponents argued that the Farm Bill was a natural home for the policy to support corn growers and lower fuel prices.

Earlier this year, the EPA issued an emergency waiver allowing for summer sales of E15. While it gave some certainty of E15 availability for the time being, the temporary waivers didn’t meet the threshold of industry advocates.

Then, more recently, year-round E15 was included in the Farm Bill but was stripped out before vote. The goal was to provide a permanent legislative fix, which has iterated to become the pending action on legislation this week.

Standalone Legislation

H.R. 1356 has industry and farm group support. The American Farm Bureau Federation highlights:

E15—also sold as Unleaded 88—can save drivers 10–30¢ per gallon while supporting rural jobs and retain energy dollars in the U.S.
Expanding access to E15 could increase corn demand by up to 2.4 billion bushels annually.

Growth Energy, the nation’s largest biofuel trade association, announced now more than 5,000 retail locations sell E15. This milestone comes after a 15% to 24% increase annually in the number of stores selling E15 since 2020.

“An important part of this legislation is to finalize the rule making that clears the air on infrastructure,” says Emily Skor CEO of Growth Energy. “It would kind of grandfather in some of the underground storage so that it’s easier for a retailer to just simply say ‘I want to start offering this’ and not have to change our infrastructure or invest in infrastructure.”

Fuel retailers sold nearly 2.5 billion gallons of E15 in 2025. Skor adds her group expects to see 1,200 more locations add E15 in 2026, and if Congress allows year-round sales, that number will be “exponential growth.”

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which has initiated a member alert for grassroots action, “This is a critical moment for farmers and rural communities. Year-round E15 is a market-driven, no-cost solution that increases demand for U.S. corn, strengthens farm income, lowers gas prices, and improves America’s energy independence.”

Will it Get Passed?

Skor says the issue has been punted twice, but unlike previous efforts the standalone bill is proceeding differently because it’s the first time the House has got to vote on just this issue.

“There’s mounting pressure to get something done and take action,” Skor says. “My attitude is one step at a time. If we get a successful–I’ll say when we get a successful House vote–it will help us, because it will signal to the Senate the House does support it and it can be done.”

She adds, “Our opposition is small, but they’re spreading a false narrative. So we really have to get in there and educate people. At the end of the day, for those people if they may not be swayed by the importance of this to the farm economy, they’ve got to be swayed by the price savings at a time when gas prices are at a four year high.”

White House Sets Record Biofuel Volumes for 2026 and 2027

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 18:27:37 GMT

In the 20th year of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, the White House has established the renewable fuel volume requirements for 2026 and 2027 at the highest levels in program history. The Set 2 final rule, announced at the White House Great American Agriculture Celebration in front of 650 invited attendees, realigns the program with Congress’ intent to increase the use of homegrown American biofuels.

“Today’s announcement is truly historic for our nation’s farmers and energy producers. These numbers represent the highest levels of biofuels ever required to be blended into our fuel supply,” says Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture. “With President Trump and Administrator Zeldin’s leadership, these historically high volumes are expected to create a $3 to $4 billion increase in net farm income. The Renewable Fuel Standard Set 2 Rule will create a $31 billion dollar value for American corn and soybean oil for biofuel production in 2026, which is $2 billion more than in 2025. Our farmers are stepping up to grow American energy dominance.”

Just this week, EPA renewed emergency waivers for E15 gasoline sales during the summer driving season.

What Does the Set 2 Final Rule Mean for Farmers

To meet the 2026 and 2027 volume levels, EPA estimates biodiesel and renewable diesel production and use will need to increase by more than 60% versus 2025 volumes. The increase was above the initial proposal.

“The proposal that we saw nine months ago was extremely robust,” explained Kurt Kovarik of the Clean Fuels Alliance America. “In fact, our industry, along with the petroleum sector and the soybean growers, asked for a volume requirement for 2026 of 5.25 billion gallons. They proposed 5.61 billion gallons. And today’s proposal is right in that neighborhood between 5.5 to perhaps as high as 5.6 or 5.7. There’s a little bit of math yet that needs to be done.”

He said that in 2025, biodiesel and renewable diesel facilities were forced to shut down or run far below prior-year production levels due to market uncertainty. U.S. biodiesel production declined by one-third in 2025, compared to 2024.

“Biodiesel and renewable diesel represent 10% of the value of every bushel of U.S.-grown soybeans, contributing to President Trump’s desire for American energy dominance and domestic market demand for agriculture commodities,” said Kovarik. “American farmers and other feedstock providers are eager for the growing domestic clean fuel market to drive value in agriculture, along with economic growth and job creation in rural communities. American consumers are desperate for secure, affordable domestic energy. Today’s rule is a clear win for the nation’s energy security.”

With the benefits Set 2 will bring to America’s farmers, EPA estimates the rule will generate more than $10 billion for rural economies and create more than 100,000 new jobs in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. To provide continued certainty for American corn growers and ethanol producers, EPA will maintain the 15 billion conventional biofuel level for 2026 and 2027.

Based on EPA’s latest release on March 27

(EPA)

What are Renewable Volume Obligations?

RVOs are targets set by EPA to determine how much renewable fuel must be blended into the U.S. transportation fuel supply. EPA determines the total volume of different categories of biofuels that should be used in the country for multi-year periods. Once decided, EPA converts the total volumes into percentage standards, which represent the ratio of renewable fuel to the total amount of gasoline and diesel expected to be consumed in the U.S. that year.

Each “obligated party,” typically refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel, calculates its RVO by multiplying EPA’s percentage standards by the total volume of non-renewable gasoline and diesel they produce or import. To prove they have met their RVO, obligated parties must use a serial number attached to each gallon of biofuel, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). When the biofuel is blended into the fuel supply, the RIN is “separated” from the physical fuel.

At the end of the compliance year, obligated parties must submit to EPA enough RINs to cover their specific RVO. If a refiner blends more biofuel than required, they can sell their excess RINs to other refiners who have not met their obligations.

Adjusted Small Refinery Exemptions

The EPA also finalized the reallocation of the volumes from Small Refinery Exemptions from 2023 through 2025. Those are now set at 70%.

“Adding it to the top line volume for 2026 and 2027, the volumes that were waived over those three years will be made up in 2026 and 2027,” Kovarik. “For our industry, that’s somewhere between an additional 200 to 250 million gallons a year.”

He says that is on top of the already robust minimum volume that EPA set. The agency claims the RFS rule will create $31 billion in value for American corn and soybean oil.

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President and CEO Geoff Cooper noted that while they advocated for full reallocation of the 2023-2025 SREs, the 70 percent reallocation included in today’s rule is better than other options that were under consideration. EPA had proposed 50 percent reallocation as an option and also solicited public feedback on no reallocation at all.

“We continue to believe small refinery exemptions are completely unjustified, and the SRE petition process—including EPA’s reliance on the Department of Energy’s ‘scoring matrix'—is fundamentally flawed,” Cooper said. “SREs distort the market, undermine fair competition, and destabilize the RFS program. And while RFA appreciates EPA’s efforts to minimize market disruptions by reallocating most of the renewable volume lost to SREs, we believe the Agency has a duty to fully restore all exempted volumes.”

RVO Reaction Pours In

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and other farm groups applaud the RVO announcement from EPA.

“Today’s RFS rule supports continued growth in American-made renewable fuels like ethanol and brings much-needed certainty and stability to the marketplace,” said RFA on X.com .

Today’s RFS rule supports continued growth in American-made renewable fuels like #ethanol and brings much-needed certainty and stability to the marketplace. We are grateful to @POTUS and @epaleezeldin.https://t.co/FdovzBqLUr
— Renewable Fuels Association (@EthanolRFA) March 27, 2026

“Congress intended year-to-year renewable fuel blending to increase under the RFS and today’s announcement with the highest-ever volume obligations helps fulfill their intention,” said Brian Jennings, CEO for American Coalition for Ethanol. “We’ve consistently advocated for strong final blending obligations for 2026 and 2027, reflecting the full potential of the RFS and ensuring small refinery exemptions (SREs) do not erode demand for renewable fuels.”

Jennings says the integrity of the RFS depends on ensuring volume obligations translate into real-world demand. Any gap between required volumes and actual blending undermines the program and creates uncertainty for ethanol producers, farmers, and rural communities.

“We appreciate President Trump, Administrator Zeldin and Secretary Rollins for delivering strong RVO volumes and doing so in a way that recognizes the importance of American farmers,” said NSP Chair Amy France, a farmer from Scott City, Kan. “These volumes provide critical certainty for sorghum producers and help strengthen demand across the biofuels sector.”

NSP also highlighted EPA’s decision to reallocate 70 percent of previously exempted volumes, helping ensure that promised demand is realized.

“Maintaining the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard is essential,” France said. “Reallocating those gallons helps protect the market opportunities farmers depend on. We need to build on this momentum and get year-round E15 across the finish line.”

Ohio farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower, who was present at the White House for the announcement, also weighed in on the latest volumes.

“Our deep thanks go to President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for releasing these robust RVO numbers in an exceptionally timely manner and, appropriately, during an event honoring America’s farmers. This action provides certainty to corn farmers across the country who rely on a stable biofuels industry. Today’s announcement, coupled with the Trump administration’s E15 summertime waiver earlier this week, is a positive move for the nation’s corn growers who are navigating an exceptionally difficult economic environment. There is still more to be done to help our growers, and we look forward to working side-by-side with the president and our allies in Congress to get permanent year-round E15 legislation over the finish line.”

Fuel and Fertilizer Costs Surge

While there’s hope that embracing biofuels can help bolster the farm economy and lower prices at the pump, farmers are feeling the fallout of higher oil prices. According to AAA on Friday, the national average for a gallon of diesel fuel was $5.38. That’s nearly $2 per gallon higher than it was just a year ago, and it’s happening right as farmers gear up for the spring planting season.

“To help lower gasoline prices for farmers and consumers, this week, I issued an emergency order to allow immediate sales of E-15 — and just as I promised in the campaign, I’m seeking Congressional action to allow E-15 all-year-round,” said President Trump.

Fertilizer prices are also significantly higher in the last few weeks. While some farmers pre-applied acres last fall and others bought earlier in 2026, there are still a number of acres left to cover.

EPA Announces Waivers to Allow Summertime E15 Use

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 02:01:44 GMT

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced emergency waivers to allow summertime sales of E15.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin making the announcement at this year’s CERA Week, major energy conference in Houston.

Troy Bredenkamp, senior vice president of government and public affairs with the Renewable Fuels Association says since 2022, EPA has used an emergency waiver each year by way of the Clean Air Act to allow gas stations to sell E15 fuel in the summer months starting May 1.

However, at least the waivers are coming early this year.

“We are going to have emergency waivers for E15 this summer. This announcement is coming probably at least a month ahead of where it usually comes and that’s on purpose, you know, with all the turmoil in the Middle East,” he explains.

The early waivers will avoid the problems they saw last summer with fuel blends that caused fuel disruptions.

“Getting this out early is very positive. The refiners want to have it earlier. We want to have it earlier. The marketplace, the retailers want to have it earlier,” he says.

E10 Emergency Waivers
EPA also announced E10 emergency waivers for the seven Midwest states that already had E15 waivers to remove all federal impediments to selling E10 and provide parody for the two ethanol blends.

According to Bredenkamp, “If they give an E15 waiver for the summer driving season in those seven states, you wouldn’t have a waiver necessarily for E10. So, they have to in those seven states grant an emergency waiver for E10 as well in order to keep maximum fuel fungeability within all fuel pumps within the United States.”

E15 Legislation Needed
However, emergency waivers can’t replace a permanent Congressional fix.

So, farm state lawmakers hope for passage of an E15 bill to make this the last year for the emergency waivers including Sen. Joni Ernst - Iowa (R).

“We’ve done this for a number of years and it’s kind of the same old same old and I am grateful for the waiver. I think that is very important to be able to offer uh the product the way we do through those summer months. But we really do need the administration to assist us with this,” she says.

Ernst says the biggest hurdle for passage is still the refiners and she’s talked to leadership in the administration to urge President Trump to signal to small and mid-level refineries that E15 needs to happen.

E15 a Win Win
Bredenkamp says permanent law would provide certainty for the ethanol industry.

“That would resolve the Midwest state opt- out issue. That would resolve year- round E15. Everyone would know what the game plan is every year moving forward. retailers would have the market certainty that they need to offer it. the corn growers would have uh a demand driver moving forward. That’s what everyone needs.”

And Ernst says consumers would also win at the pump.

“Especially as we see sky high levels of fuel prices. We know we can drop that immediately with E15.”

Meanwhile, EPA is also expected to announce enhanced RVOS or biofuels blending standards by the end of March or even as early as this Friday’s White House Celebration of Ag, which will also help out at the gas pump.

USDA Forecasts Significant Drop in U.S. Ag Trade Deficit as Exports Rise

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:24:44 GMT

USDA now projects the U.S. agricultural trade deficit will narrow to $29B in FY2026 , down from about $50B a year ago. Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg says the trade team isn’t done yet.

(Data: USDA)

“Our goal is to get back to surplus, but going from $50 billion (forecasted) to $29 billion in one year shows tremendous progress, 43% down over this time last year, and we’re continuing to make good progress on seeing that drop even further,” Lindberg says.

Exports rising

Three areas with notable increases in exports by year-end of 2025 include:

Dairy exports up 15%
Ethanol exports up 11%
Corn exports up 29%

Simply put, the U.S. ag trade balance is export value minus import value. Lindberg says the export side of the equation is where his team can make the most impact.

“We’ve seen great opportunities as our producers can take new advantage of some of these trade deals the president has put in place. So, the stat that I love to say right now is over half the world’s population and over half the world’s GDP have come to some kind of a trade agreement with the president in his first year in office. That’s a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of dollars that can be buying U.S. products.”

In recent decades, the U.S. maintained a positive trade balance up until 2020 when the surpluses were much smaller or became deficits.

How USDA says it will push exports

To build back trade, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ team is sticking to a three-point plan:

Get better trade agreements.
Build willing buyer and willing seller relationships.
Hold trading partners accountable.

“Our team and our friends over at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office have done a tremendous job opening up market access with our dealmaker-in-chief, President Donald J. Trump. Our team at USDA plays an outsized role in getting our farmers and ranchers out there to sell their products. I refer to it as building buyer-seller relationships. And so we’re aggressively approaching that this year, with getting our farmers and ranchers and our agribusinesses on the ground in these countries where they have market access today that they didn’t have yesterday,” he says.

Trade missions: 2026 schedule and priorities

To continue to build trade relations and boost exports, Lindberg points to the traditional USDA agribusiness trade missions ( of which there are six scheduled in 2026 ), and the rapid response trade missions called TRUMP missions (Trade Reciprocity for U.S. Manufacturers and Producers).

“We really do have a robust, aggressive schedule this year to make sure we’re quickly getting into these markets that the president has unlocked,” he says. “We need market access. We need to be able to compete on a fair and level playing field to export our products around the world.”

Domestic angle: imports, tariffs, and “level playing field”

As for the domestic demand of ag products, and potentially reducing the value of agricultural imports, Lindberg says farmers should also have a level playing field stateside.

“Our farmers and ranchers now have a better playing field, both overseas, where we’re taking down trade barriers, but also here domestically, through the President’s aggressive use of tariffs and the way in which he has restructured the opportunities that exist domestically for our farmers. And we’re seeing that in the trade data, where on a dollar-for-dollar basis, we’re going to be importing a significant amount less this year than we did even last year. And what that does is it means more Americans, more of their dollars are going towards food that is produced, consumed, slaughtered, raised, processed, right here in the United States of America, and I think that’s a win as well.”

The next agribusiness trade mission is to the Philippines.

Could Your Future Tractor Run on Corn? John Deere Thinks So

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:38:14 GMT

As the ag economy searches for the next evolution of demand, Deanna Kovar says the future tractor might not just sip diesel, it could run on E98 ethanol grown by farmers themselves. In an exclusive interview with Farm Journal , Kovar said the tractor is still in trials and testing, but John Deere is debuting the E98 tractor, and engine, during Commodity Classic next week.

Kovar, president of the Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, Production & Precision Ag for John Deere, says the company is actively testing an ethanol-powered tractor in Iowa and other locations. While diesel remains the dominant fuel across production agriculture, Deere engineers are exploring whether high-ethanol blends could offer a cleaner, farmer-driven alternative.

“We’re not just thinking about diesel,” Kovar says. “We’re also considering how might we fix this problem another way. And that’s an ethanol tractor.”

A Tractor Fueled by the Farm

With so much talk about E15 and what that would mean for added domestic corn demand, Deere is taking it a step further for farm equipment. The concept centers on E98, a fuel blend made up of roughly 98% ethanol (the remaining 2% is denaturant). Unlike traditional diesel engines, an E98-powered tractor would burn clean enough that it would not require diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to meet emissions standards.

That’s a notable shift in an era where emissions systems add cost, maintenance and complexity to modern equipment. But for Kovar, the opportunity goes well beyond simplifying aftertreatment systems.

“The idea that we could use E98 to run a tractor, it’s so clean you don’t need diesel exhaust fluid to run it,” she says. “It would allow a farmer to grow the fuel that they put in their tractor to grow next year’s crop.”

That means corn grown in the field could be processed into ethanol, then returned to the farm as fuel — creating a tighter, more circular production system while generating more demand for the crops farmers already grow.

From Concept to Cornfield

One of the farmers helping test that concept is Tim Burrack of Arlington, Iowa, who recently shared his experience on “AgriTalk”.

Burrack first heard about the ethanol tractor while traveling and speaking with Deere representatives.

“They were talking about this tractor they had built that ran on 100% ethanol — or actually 98%, because ethanol is denatured,” Burrack says. “And I said, ‘Well, I’d sure like to have that tractor on my farm.’”

Before fall harvest ended, Deere delivered.

For five days, Burrack put the prototype to work, four days on a grain cart and one on tillage. The tractor, which Burrack says looks like a traditional John Deere 8R, is rated at 350 HP. Burrack says Deere has built only a handful of the prototypes, with one reportedly operating in Brazil and another in Iowa this past fall.

“I’m really thankful I got to run it, and I’m extremely impressed by it,” he says.

Unlike today’s high-horsepower diesel machines, the E98 tractor uses a spark ignition engine, a major departure from the compression ignition systems farmers are accustomed to.

“If you can imagine this, though, having 350 horse using electronic ignition, we’re not used to that in agriculture anymore at that large scale,” Burrack says.

In the field, however, he says performance spoke for itself. Hooked to an 1,100-bushel grain cart, the tractor handled full loads during harvest without issue. On tillage, Burrack says it performed “really well.”

Fuel consumption, he notes, ran about 1.65 gallons of ethanol to equal the energy performance of one gallon of diesel, which is consistent with the lower energy density of ethanol compared to diesel fuel.

The prototype isn’t perfect. Burrack says cold-weather starting remains a challenge, and Deere engineers are still refining the system.

“They know the problems they’ve got to resolve,” he says. “But I think John Deere is committed to making this work.”

The Infrastructure Hurdle

Kovar emphasizes the biggest barrier to adoption isn’t necessarily the engine itself.

“I don’t think it’s the engine technology that limits how long,” she says. “I really think it is the infrastructure.”

For E98 to become viable at scale, the industry would need:

Reliable production and distribution channels
Fuel retailers equipped to handle high-ethanol blends
On-farm storage and dispensing systems
A coordinated effort from fuel companies and equipment manufacturers

“There is a ton of infrastructure that would need to follow to allow an E98-type fuel to flow and be on [the] farm,” Kovar says. “Are the fuel companies ready to deliver it to the farm? Do we have the on-farm ability?”

If that system were in place, she suggests, the technology could move more quickly. Without it, adoption becomes a longer-term play. Kovar wouldn’t give an exact timeline on how long it could be before it’s commercially available to farmers, but she says the technology in the equipment will more than likely be ready before the infrastructure to support it.

A Local Fuel Loop

Burrack emphasizes the close, convenient loop the idea creates.

“Just imagine, within 20 miles of my farm, I can grow the corn, take it to the ethanol plant, they’ll make the fuel and all the liquid fuels that I need will be made right here,” he says. “I think it’s a transformation of equipment. And John Deere needs some encouragement to keep moving, but it actually works.”

Diesel isn’t going away anytime soon. But as Deere continues testing, and farmers like Burrack put E98 prototypes through real-world paces, the idea of tractors powered by the very crops they harvest is moving from thought experiment to field trial, and possibly, one day, to a field near you.

Watch the complete interview with Kovak on YouTube.

What the Treasury’s Announcement on 45Z Tax Credits Means to Farmers

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:56:54 GMT

On Feb. 3, the Treasury Department confirmed farmers will have a seat at the table to benefit from 45Z tax credits with its release of a 170-page document stating its proposed rule.

“They made a bunch of clarifications for the biofuel producers today — who qualifies, what qualifies, how to calculate and how to register,” says Mitchell Hora, an Iowa farmer and founder of Continuum Ag. “It says farmers are going to a have a seat at the table, too, which is what we’ve been advocating for this whole time.”

There have been questions over the past nearly four years since 45Z was first proposed as a biofuel producer tax credit based on carbon intensity of feedstocks. It’s had iterations through the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, and now the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

As written in the proposed rule, biofuels feedstocks would be limited to be sourced from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“Clearly, the Treasury has been very concerned about foreign feedstock, especially foreign used coconut oil and palm oil,” Hora says.

For farmers, three big questions remain.

1. What’s the model used to calculate carbon intensity?

Before today’s announcement, there were two competing models, one from the Department of Energy (known as GREET) and one from USDA announced last January. Today, the Treasury confirmed it’ll be a model from USDA, though it’s a new version now called 45Z FD-CIC.

“It’s going to be something different altogether, which is a combo of the two,“ Hora says. “We don’t know all the details yet, but we know they are going to utilize the language from USDA regarding verification, traceability and audits.”

Hora expects the model to use ag practices in its calculations, including cover crops, reduced tillage, fertilizer efficiency, manure and yield.

As for when the final USDA-driven 45Z FD-CIC will be released, Hora says ‘hopefully soon.’

2. Which chain of custody methodology will be used?

Hora is advocating for book and claim, which he says is more straightforward and would allow a farmer to sell their crop based on the carbon intensity (CI) score of a field, avoiding identity preservation or blending. The alternative is mass balance.

“The big thing that we want to see happen in the USDA rules is that the farmer data should be accounted for via a book and claim,” he says.

3. How much is this worth to the farmer?

Hora says today’s announcement clarifies a lot of the rule for the biofuels producer, which is the recipient of the tax credit. How much of that value will be shared with the farmer is still unknown.

“We’ve shown that farmers could contribute an average CI reduction of 18 CI points, which could translate to pretty substantial value, upwards of close to a dollar a bushel,” he says. “That’s to the ethanol plant, though. The biofuel producer gets the money. A farmer would get a portion of that, and we don’t know how the pie is going to be split, but the total pie that the farmers could contribute to, under the current models, the math ends up being $1.08 per bushel.”

While today’s announcement doesn’t mean money will start moving, Hora says we’re closer than ever to having opportunities for farmers.

Moving Forward With What is Known

Hora says while those questions have yet to be answered, he knows record keeping is paramount to seize on the opportunity. As such, he’s encouraging farmers to get their field-level data in order, including as applied maps, receipts, shape files, aerial imagery, etc.

“At least we got clarity today that this thing is going to happen. [There’s] still a process ahead, but farmers have a seat at the table. It’s a huge day for American ag,” Hora says.

Industry groups reacted in support of the Treasury’s proposed rule.

“Treasury’s proposal is a definite step in the right direction and will allow corn growers to transition into and supply the aviation sector,” Ohio farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower says in a news release. “Being able to fuel commercial planes with fuel derived from corn would be important to the long-term economic viability of farming. After today we are one step closer to that possibility.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) sent a joint release emphasizing how the 45Z rule should be in conjunction with a final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blend target announcement.

“Updating federal biofuel policies to prioritize soy-based fuels is a key ASA priority, and we applaud Treasury for this action which will help build domestic markets for U.S. soybeans,” says Scott Metzger, ASA president and Ohio farmer. “While Treasury’s work to update tax guidance is critical, ASA strongly urges the administration to immediately finalize RFS blending targets that complement the work of Treasury and Congress, by setting robust biofuel volumes and implementing new policies that will prioritize the utilization of U.S. soybeans in production.”

“These policies work hand in hand,” says Devin Mogler, NOPA president and CEO. “Treasury’s updated 45Z guidance is an important step forward, but it must be reinforced by finalizing the RFS as proposed. A strong RFS that includes the import RIN reduction mechanism is critical to putting American farmers and rural manufacturing first and providing the certainty our industry needs to continue to invest and grow so we can crush more soybeans right here in the U.S.”

What President Trump's Support Means for E15 and Corn Farmers

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:29:29 GMT

While speaking in Clive, Iowa, on Tuesday , the president said the passage of E15 will happen.

“I did. I promised E15 year-round if I got elected,” he said. “I want to let you know we’ll start right now.”

Trump said he is trusting House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to broker a deal in Congress.

“We’ve got it for farmers, consumers and refiners, including small and midsize refiners. In other words, to get E15 approved, and they’re working on it, they’re very close to getting it done. I just wanted to let you know that,” he added.

President Would Sign E15 Bill Immediately

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a press release Tuesday evening that “yet again President Trump is honoring his commitment to America’s farmers and energy producers today in Iowa by announcing his support for the nationwide year-round sale of E15. As Congress continues to work through the details, the president has been clear — get a bill that allows nationwide E15 to his desk, and he will sign it to unleash American homegrown row crops for biofuels use like never before.”

Iowa Biofuels Groups Say President’s Support is Critical

Iowa biofuels groups, including the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA), took out ads and wrote President Trump a letter prior to his visit to urge his support for E15. IRFA executive director Monte Shaw says the president directing Congress to get E15 done could be the key to finally getting it passed.

“He said he would sign it without delay. We think that was key. There are branches of government, you know the president is not Congress and Congress is not the president. But when he calls up the congressional leaders and says, ‘Hey, I want to get something done’, it’s usually gotten done and got to his desk,” Shaw says.

Legislative Path for E15

Shaw says the legislative path for E15 could be a delayed spending bill, or even a stand-alone bill, since the newly formed E15 council has been given a deadline of Feb. 15 to bring back a deal, with the hope of passage by Feb. 28.

“They did a rule that created the E15 council to keep working on it. This was before President Trump weighed in, and it gave them a date certain for a vote,” Shaw says.

Even if approved, Shaw admits the market impact won’t be felt overnight. But in five to seven years, E15 could mean another 2.4 billion bushels of corn usage annually, and the impact on corn prices could be substantial.

“Two billion bushels is not a small number, but I think people need to understand it won’t happen overnight. Even as penetration starts to grow, you start to grind a lot of corn very quickly,” he adds.

Iowa Farmers Speak To Trump

Kevin Ross, past National Corn Growers Association president, spoke directly with President Trump about E15 at the Machine Shed restaurant. He felt the president was listening.

“He’s said E15 more times in that setting than he has since probably back at the rally down at the [Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy] ethanol plant. I think he’s definitely focused on getting this across the finish line, doing what he can do and that’s really good to see,” Ross says.

He is excited about the possibility of E15 passage and what it could eventually mean for increased demand.

“I would assume the market’s going to take things positively, which we desperately need,” Ross says.

Biofuels Groups Urge President Trump to Expedite Biofuels Policy

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:58:50 GMT

Biofuels groups representing both ethanol and biomass-based diesel wrote letters to President Donald Trump — and also took out newspaper ads — ahead of his visit to Clive, Iowa. They are asking the administration to make biofuels policy a priority, expedite rules on the 45Z Clean Fuels Production tax credit and Renewable Fuels Standard Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) and support E15 passage that would give certainty to farmers.

Biomass-Based Diesel Production Down With Policy Uncertainty

U.S. biomass-based diesel production was down substantially in 2025, with many plants shuttered or throttling back production due to biofuels policy delays. In Iowa alone, last year’s volume was down about 30%.

That’s at the heart of the letter Clean Fuels Alliance America sent to President Trump, says Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs.

“The letter was really to tell the president: ‘Use the tools that you have available to you on the RVOs, and also on 45Z as well, to move those regulations along and provide certainty to the industry’,” Kovarik says.

CFAA Asks President Trump for Robust RVOs...Soon

While the fate of the half RIN proposal is uncertain, as part of the RVOs, Clean Fuels wants 100% of the Small Refinery Exemption (SRE) volumes reallocated and adoption of EPA’s proposed 5.61 billion gallon volumes on biomass-based diesel.

Kovarik says: “The proposal that we received from EPA back in the summer is incredibly robust and would send a great signal. So, all we’ve asked the president to do is finalize that volume obligation near what was proposed, and that would go a long way to turning plants on.”

Finalization of the 45Z Clean Fuels Tax Credit Also Needed

In addition, Kovarik says the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) indicates the proposed rules for 45Z are complete. The guidance now goes back to the Treasury, but they’ve also asked for that proposal to be expedited.

“It’s a proposal. So, this will include a notice and comment period for the public before it becomes final,” Kovarik says. “But I think just seeing the proposal for a lot of our producer-members and feed stock providers will go a long way to addressing a lot of the uncertainty that has existed with this credit.”

Kovarik thinks it’s realistic both of these biofuels policies can be completed within the next 60 days, meaning the end of February or early March.

Iowa Groups Take Out Ad Urging the President to Support E15

Farm groups including the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association also took out ads prior to President Trump’s visit to ask for help on year-round E15 passage.

Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, says the hope is the President will turn up the heat on Congress to get the legislation over the finish line.

“We all know that what we need right now is an act of Congress,” Skor says. “And so really the conversation has to be: ‘Congress do your job. Okay? We need this.’”

This comes after Congress failed to include an amendment on nationwide year-round E15 in the government spending bills. Speaking on “AgriTalk”, Skor stated the administration and President Trump have been supportive of E15 since he campaigned for the job in Iowa.

“I think the White House wants to see Congress get something done so they can bring a bill to his desk, so he can sign it and we can be done with this once and for all,” she says.

Biofuels policy is critical for corn and soybean farmers as it adds value to homegrown corn and soybeans.

Trump Confirms Support for Year-Round E-15 Deal

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:17:51 GMT

President Donald Trump made a planned visit to Iowa — his first since July 2025 — on Tuesday, focusing on affordability, saying Iowa families are “winning” again under his leadership. Standing in front of a packed crowd in Clive, Iowa, with signs posted on the stage and scattered throughout the crowd that said “lower prices” and “bigger paychecks,” the visit unofficially kicked off the midterm elections where costs for consumers are expected to be one of the main political talking points.

While in Iowa, President Trump highlighted what the White House calls improving economic conditions for Iowa families, pointing to lower fuel prices, tax savings and agriculture-driven growth as signs the state is “winning again.” The President touted all the trade wins, including China buying soybeans and the EU agreeing to buy U.S. ethanol. He says by removing those trade barriers, exports are starting to flow to countries that had stopped buying U.S. ag goods before he took office.

But the reality is agriculture is at a crossroads, especially on the row crop side. Even with the recent trade deals, current economic pressures are creating a crisis in agriculture. Trump did briefly mention that crisis, blaming it on former President Joe Biden.

Trump Pushes Year-Round E15 During Iowa Visit

During his speech in Iowa, President Trump reaffirmed his campaign promise to support year-round E15, signaling a major win for corn growers and the ethanol industry.

“But I’m also working hard to expand your markets domestically,” Trump says. “In the campaign, I promised to support E15 all year round. I did. E15 all year round if I get elected, and I want to let you know, we’ll start right now.”

The statement sparked applause as Trump emphasized that efforts are underway in Congress to finalize approval, calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune to deliver a deal that benefits farmers, consumers, and refiners, including small and mid-sized operations.

“I’m trusting Speaker Mike Johnson, who’s great, and Leader John Thune, who’s great, to find a deal that works. They’re very close to getting it done,” he says. “And I will sign it without delay.”

The president framed year-round E15 as a key part of his broader strategy to expand markets for U.S. corn, support rural communities, and strengthen domestic energy production.

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump announces Congress is actively working on a deal to allow E15 ALL YEAR ROUND that works for farmers, consumers, & refiners.

"Congress is working on a deal, and when they send it to my desk — I will sign it without delay."pic.twitter.com/TOpo3VUDI4
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 27, 2026

Trump Highlights “Historic Turnaround” for U.S. Manufacturing, Touts Deere’s Stock Hitting All-Time High

During his Iowa visit, President Trump touted what he called a historic one-year economic turnaround, pointing to manufacturing growth and new investments across the country.

“And America is respected all over the world like they’ve never been respected,” Trump says. “I thought it would take us two years. This has been the most dramatic one-year turnaround of any country in history in terms of the speed.”

Trump spotlighted John Deere as an example of American manufacturing success. He welcomed the company’s chairman at the event and praised the expansion of production facilities, including what he called two massive new plants.

“You’re opening one in North Carolina, one someplace else, and then you’re expanding all over the place. You’re doing a great job,” he says. “I bought a lot of John Deere stuff. Great country, great company, it’s an honor to have you here.”

The president attributed much of the growth to tariffs and economic policies aimed at attracting investment back to the U.S.

“It is because of tariffs and it is also because of the fact that we had such a tremendous November 5th. That November 5 brought spirit back to our country,” Trump says.

Trump then said that proof in the growth is in the stock market’s performance, including Deere stock hitting an all-time high of 529.51 on January 21, 2026.

But with strains in the farm economy, farm equipment sales saw a steep decline in 2025. Deere and Company, which has a large footprint in the Quad Cities and Des Moines, has laid off over 3,500 employees since October 2023. That downsizing, which the company says is driven by decreasing demand and lower sales, has hit the company’s manufacturing facilities hard, including locations in Waterloo and Ankeny.

John Deere Expands U.S. Manufacturing with Two New Facilities

President Trump highlighted John Deere’s plans to open two major U.S. facilities, marking a significant boost for American manufacturing and rural jobs. The president saying Deere’s decision was due to tariffs.

After the president’s remarks, the company sent out a press release, with John Deere announcing a major expansion with two new U.S. facilities coming soon to the U.S .

Dere says it will build:

A state-of-the-art distribution center near Hebron, Indiana, and a $70 million excavator factory in Kernersville, North Carolina, both set to open within the next year.
The North Carolina factory will bring excavator production back from Japan to the U.S., making John Deere the top domestic producer of excavators.

Together, Deere says the projects are expected to create hundreds of new American jobs, strengthen local economies, and advance John Deere’s commitment to $20 billion in U.S. manufacturing investments over the next decade.

John Deere executives emphasized the expansion as a continuation of their mission to “build America”, enhance innovation, and support the nation’s agriculture, construction, and manufacturing sectors.

The Strong Push for E15 to Help Turn The Ag Economy Around

As corn growers pressed for year-round E15 ahead of the president’s visit, ethanol advocates say the issue is no longer about executive action. It’s about Congress finishing the job.

Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, says the Trump administration has already taken every step available to it through regulatory action.

Leading into Tuesday’s talk, biofuels leaders pushed for the president to focus on E15, saying rural America’s financial stress is colliding with a narrow policy window to get things like E15 done, and that could generate more demand, quickly changing the outlook for corn and soybean growers.

“What we hear from the team around the president is he did what he could,” Skor told Chip Flory during “AgriTalk” on Tuesday. “He issued an executive order. EPA gave us the summer waivers for last summer. We all know that what we need right now is an act of Congress.”

Skor says the White House wants lawmakers to deliver a bill that can be signed into law and end the seasonal E15 debate for good.

“The conversation has to be ‘Congress, do your job,’” she says. “The White House wants to see Congress get something done so they can bring a bill to his desk, so he can sign it and we can be done with this once and for all.”

That urgency is being echoed across agriculture, she says.

“I’ve got CEOs of all kinds of agriculture trade groups calling me saying: ‘What can we do to be helpful? We’ve got to get this done,’” Skor says. “All of agriculture is supportive of this.”

Iowa’s Reality: Corn Prices Below Cost of Production

Ahead of Trump’s second visit to Iowa in less than a year, corn growers and renewable fuels advocates used the moment to renew pressure for nationwide, year-round access to E15. Corn groups say the timing is critical, as lawmakers continue to stall on permanent E15 access despite strong Midwestern support. To make the push even more visible, Iowa Corn and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) released an open letter on Tuesday , thanking the president for his past support of E15 and urging him to help push the policy across the finish line in Congress, while also running a full-page ad in Tuesday’s “Des Moines Register”.

ICGA and @iowafuel today released an open letter thanking @POTUS for his constant support of nationwide, year-round #E15 and asking for his help to finally push E15 access through Congress @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/cxACXijKMN
— Iowa Corn (@iowa_corn) January 26, 2026

According to the letter, corn growers across the country, and especially in Iowa, are struggling as prices remain well below the cost of production. That pressure, they say, is rippling through the broader state economy.

The groups cite recent data from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, which ranked Iowa 50th among states for economic growth. They say expanding E15 is one of the fastest ways to reverse that trend.

“The best way to boost corn prices and create meaningful market demand is the immediate authorization of nationwide, year-round E15,” the letter states.

After Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, saying a deal is close, Iowa Corn Growers Association Vice President and farmer from Knoxville, Iowa, Steve Kuiper, expressed Iowa Corn’s appreciation, while highlighting what this could mean for farmers at a critical time.

“Iowa’s corn growers appreciate President Trump shining light on E15 and recognizing the weight this legislation holds to us as corn growers. Farmers are struggling with low commodity prices, high input costs and lack of markets. Passage of year-round E15 is the lifeline many of us need to be able to continue farming,” says Kuiper. “A recent study by Iowa Corn and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association shared the positive effects year-round E15 would mean for corn growers. This is a goal we have been working towards for over a decade and getting this issue to the president’s desk and across the finish line is a win we all desperately need. The fact that the President sees this problem and promises a solution is coming is very encouraging and valued by us as farmers.”

Fun fact: today when @realDonaldTrump referenced supporting year-round E15 on the campaign trail, that started on January 19, 2016 at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, where he was a speaker.

The next Summit is on February 5th and is FREE and open to the public. You might want to… https://t.co/g0G57UWrbF
— Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (@iowafuel) January 28, 2026

Leading up to today’s statements by Trump, both Iowa Corn and Iowa Renewable Fuels reminded the Trump administration that year-round E15 would immediately expand domestic demand for corn at a time when farmers are under intense financial pressure. Even with the latest round of financial aid through the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program payments, 92% of agricultural economists surveyed in Farm Journal’s December Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor said the row crop side of agriculture is in a recession. More than 90% said that will accelerate consolidation in agriculture — something Iowa agriculture is seeing firsthand.

Biofuels Seen as Economic Pressure Point and Opportunity

Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs at Clean Fuels Alliance America, appeared on “AgriTalk” before Trump’s talk on Tuesday. He says the group sent a letter to the president earlier this week urging the administration to focus on two immediate policy opportunities.

“We’re excited to see him head to Iowa,” Kovarik says. “We were briefed that the purpose of the conversation was to highlight economic opportunity, perhaps domestic energy dominance.”

Kovarik says Clean Fuels asked the administration to spotlight progress on renewable fuels, particularly finalizing renewable volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard and issuing long-awaited guidance on the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit.

“I’m sure you’ve had a lot of conversations around E15 — that’s in the hands of Congress,” he says. “So, what we want to do is highlight for the president the EPA’s efforts to finalize the renewable volume obligations under the RFS as an opportunity to provide market certainty and growth for our industry, as well as finalizing the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit guidance, which we do not yet have.”

That certainty, Kovarik says, has been missing, and the consequences have been felt across rural America.

“Our industry had a really, really tough 2025,” he says. “Following a really great ’24, ’25 was really poor, as it was along the farm economy.”

He says the downturn wasn’t driven by demand alone, but by uncertainty around federal policy.

“It was a lack of profit, lack of margin, which meant reduced capacity,” Kovarik says. “In fact, we’ve had a lot of plants idling.”

After producing more than 5 billion gallons of clean fuels domestically in 2024, Kovarik says output dropped sharply in 2025. Plants across the industry operated at just 60% to 70% of capacity.

“In some cases that may be a plant dialing back to 80%,” he says. “In a lot of cases, particularly the smaller plants, maybe in Iowa, those that don’t produce their own feedstock came offline entirely.”

But it’s not just corn at a crossroads. He says that slowdown directly affects farm demand, especially for soybean oil.

“If our industry got those two things in the near term, we would flip around this industry nearly immediately,” Kovarik says. “Turn these plants back on, buy more soybean oil, add value to the soybean farmer and get this fuel to the consumer.”

Kovarik points to renewable volume obligations as a key pressure point. Under the Biden administration’s final three-year RFS rule, biomass-based diesel volumes for 2025 were set at 3.35 billion gallons — well below what the industry was capable of producing.

“We produced over 5 billion gallons in 2024,” he says. “So, that’s part of the reason our industry had a tough year.”

Looking ahead, Clean Fuels, petroleum refiners and agriculture groups asked EPA to raise 2026 volumes to 5.25 billion gallons. EPA’s proposal came in even higher.

“EPA actually proposed an estimate around 5.6 billion gallons,” Kovarik says. “They were even above ours.”

If final numbers land near that range, Kovarik says it would send a powerful market signal.

“Our feeling is if it comes down anywhere in the neighborhood between what we asked and what EPA proposed, it’s going to be a very, very strong market signal,” he says.

Timing matters, too. Kovarik says EPA has indicated the rule could be finalized soon.

“Our expectation is EPA is committed to have it done within the first quarter of 2026 — that means the end of March,” he says. “Hopefully early- to mid-March.”

As corn growers push for year-round E15 and broader biofuels support during Trump’s Iowa visit, Kovarik says optimism is returning, even after a difficult year.

“Although most folks are really feeling bad about how ’25 was, they’re also very optimistic about 2026,” he says. “Because of what we feel we’re on the cusp of.”

Corn Growers Disgusted as Congress Leaves E15 Out of Government Spending Bills

Just last week, E15 and corn groups were dealt a blow. That’s because year-round E15 was left out of the latest spending package , something corn and renewable fuels groups had been pushing to get included in the latest bill.

When asked how year-round E15 failed to advance earlier this year, Skor points to political realities inside the House.

“Parochial politics,” Skor said on AgriTalk Tuesday. “It’s incredibly frustrating.”

Despite broad ag support and mounting corn supplies, Skor says narrow vote margins and competing interests stalled progress.

“We have been a chorus saying, ‘We want markets, not handouts. We want markets,’” she says. “Look at how much corn we’ve grown in the U.S. We need to find markets.”

Skor says House leadership ultimately pulled the issue from budget negotiations due to concerns over securing enough votes, particularly from members tied to small refinery interests.

“He knew that he could not get the votes he needed to pass the budget,” she says. “So he said, ‘We’re going to table this. We’re going to create a council. We’re going to deal with this separately.’ And that’s what happened.”

Looking ahead, Skor says attaching year-round E15 to a must-pass spending bill remains possible, but unlikely in the near term.

“I’m never going to say never,” she says. “But I think the realistic, immediate path for us is trusting our champions.”

She points to Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa as a key leader on biofuels policy.

“He’s fantastic on our issues,” Skor says. “He proved to be very, very strong in advocating for the Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit, 45Z.”

Skor says biofuels groups are now unified behind a legislative compromise that protects liquid fuels while expanding growth opportunities for American ethanol.

“We have the vast majority of liquid fuels united behind a legislative proposal,” she says. “We’ve done a really good job coming up with a compromise that has a future for liquid fuels and growth opportunities for American biofuels.”

As farmers look for demand-side solutions amid tight margins and large corn supplies, Skor says the message to Washington during Trump’s Iowa visit is straightforward: permanent E15 isn’t a wish list item. It’s a market fix agriculture needs now.

In the letter Iowa Corn and IRFA sent this week, both also pointed to Congress’ decision to sidestep E15 language in recent spending bills, instead creating a task force to study the issue. That task force, which is co-chaired by Feenstra, is scheduled to take action by February 28.

“Without permanent access to this market, the long-term viability of our state’s largest economic driver is at serious risk,” the groups wrote. “Today, we are asking for your help to finally push E15 access through Congress.”

It’s that same sentiment that was relayed in a statement from National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Jed Bower last week, who said corn growers “were disgusted, disappointed and disillusioned” after spending years of calling on Congress to pass E15.

“I met with Speaker Johnson back in November. He said he was frustrated because DOGE had pulled this out last year. He said he would get something done, and here we are again,” said the Ohio farmer. “The same thing we get all the time. Let’s step on and push on the farmers because there’s not very many of them and we can get away with it.”

Small Refiners Still a Roadblock to Year-Round E15

Even with support from major oil groups, Skor says a small group of refiners continues to wield outsized influence in Washington — enough to stall year-round E15 despite broad backing from agriculture and much of the energy sector.

“Well, enough that they could hamstring the speaker and they could hold up the votes on the budget,” Skor says, responding to questions about whether small refiners still carry weight in Congress.

Skor says the current proposal on the table represents a significant compromise, one she believes should be moving now.

“Let’s get year-round E15. Let’s reform the small refinery program so fewer refiners get it and we have more clarity,” she says. “We are supportive of that.”

She argues the small refinery exemption program has been abused, pointing to a growing number of legal challenges.

“There are over 15 lawsuits that have been filed in 2025 because of these small refiners. They’re greedy,” Skor says. “They’re whiny. They claim and allege hardship, and then they get on investor calls and talk about all the money they made in the quarter. You can’t have it both ways.”

Skor says the ethanol industry and its allies are now focused on exposing what she calls that hypocrisy while maintaining pressure on lawmakers.

“We have a very strong coalition now that should win the day,” she says.

Corn Growers Argue E15 Is a ‘No-Cost’ Solution

Iowa Corn and IRFA frame E15 as both an economic and regulatory fix, calling the current restrictions outdated and unnecessary.

“Removing the outdated regulatory hurdle for E15 is exactly the type of government efficiency you’ve worked for,” the groups wrote, urging Trump to continue applying pressure as Congress debates the issue over the coming weeks.

They also emphasize permanent E15 access would come at no cost to taxpayers, while strengthening American energy dominance and providing a critical lifeline to corn producers.

“Permanent nationwide access to E15 is a common-sense, no-cost solution,” the letter sent earlier this week concludes. “Now is the time.”

With the task force deadline looming and the president back in Iowa, corn growers hope the renewed push will translate into action and finally deliver year-round E15 access they’ve been seeking for more than a decade.

Trump Defends Tariffs, Says Farmers Will Be “Biggest Beneficiary”

Ahead of his Iowa talk, President Trump made an appearance at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, where he had an exclusive interview with Fox News. During that interview, Trump strongly defended his use of tariffs, calling them “indispensable” to economic growth and long-term benefits for farmers.

“Tariffs have been indispensable toward success,” Trump says. “We’ve taken in $600 billion in tariffs.”

Trump says some of that revenue has already been directed back to agriculture, including the Farmer Bridge program payments, which are scheduled to be in farmers’ bank accounts by the end of February.

“I gave the farmers $12 billion last week and took them out of tariff money,” he says.

When asked about concerns from Iowa farmers who worry tariffs could hurt exports and commodity prices, Trump says the benefits will take time to materialize.

“It’s going to take a little while to kick in,” he says. “But I think the farmers are going to be the biggest beneficiary.”

Trump points to protections against foreign crops being sold into the U.S. at below-market prices.

“When you used to have people coming in and dumping their crops into the United States, you guys were hurt,” he says. “They’re not allowed to do that because we’re tariffing those crops.”

He also draws parallels to his first-term trade battles, particularly with China.

“The farmers stuck with me the first time, and I was right,” Trump says. “We gave them $28 billion then. Now we gave them $12 billion, sort of a minimal payment.”

While acknowledging legal challenges could arise as the Trump administration awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling, Trump still signaled tariffs, or similar tools, will remain part of his strategy.

“If the Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs, we will find something — some other way of doing a similar thing,” he says. “But it’ll be more inconvenient.”

As Trump delivers his message in Iowa, tariffs remain a flashpoint for rural America, balancing promises of long-term protection with near-term uncertainty for farmers navigating tight margins and volatile markets.

Corn Growers Disgusted as Congress Leaves E15 Out of Government Spending Bills

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:55:12 GMT

Corn farmers were kicked out of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after protesting against Congress for their failure to include E15 legislation in the government spending bills at the last minute.

Congress Omits E15 Deal From Government Spending Bills

After reaching a compromise deal on E15 between the petroleum industry and biofuels groups, the coalition has been working for the last few months to build support in Congress to include an amendment on year-round E15 in the appropriations bills to continue funding the government after Jan. 30.

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association says they were surprised when the Senate version did not contain that language and instead kicked it over to the House. “Congressman Zach Nun from Iowa offered an amendment that would include the E15 language. We were very much in play the last few days trying to get that language into this package, but as of today, it appears that what is going to happen is Congress is going to kick the can again on getting this legislation done.”

E15 sales are currently limited in the summer months due to air quality regulations under the Clean Air Act.

Corn Growers Disgusted

In a statement National Corn Growers Association president Jed Bower said corn grower were disgusted, disappointed and disillusioned after spending years of calling on Congress to pass E15. “I met with Speaker Johnson back in November. He said he was frustrated because DOGE had pulled this out last year. He said he would get something done and here we are again. The same thing we get all the time. Let’s step on and push on the farmers because there’s not very many of them and we can get away with it.”

Rural Domestic Energy Council Formed

Instead, to make all parties happy the White House has created a new Rural Domestic Energy Council.

Cooper says the group consists of oil refiners, E15 supporters and lawmakers, who are tasked to develop potential legislative proposals on E15, for future adoption. “It appears there is an agreement in the works that would create a new council that would be comprised of members of Congress who are going to further study and further debate E15 and the RFS and small refinery exemption issues over the next month or so with the idea that they would have a comprehensive legislative proposal to bring back for consideration near the end of February.”

Bower says this essentially means having to start over on their E15 efforts. The push back is coming from the Freedom Caucus. “Well, the Freedom Caucus is all worried about government spending, government overreach, and literally the government scored our bill to save the government $6 billion. Let alone what it does for agriculture in the horrible time we’re having and it’s going to drop fuel prices 25 cents a gallon. What the hell does the Freedom Caucus really believe in?”

Bower calls this a cowardly move by the administration and says it comes after a compromise deal was already struck between the ethanol and petroleum industries. “When we met at the White House and fought through this with the American Petroleum Institute, we had a lot of oil and gas support for this.” He called it a cowardly move by the administration.”

What’s the Legislative Pathway for E15 Now?

Without attaching E15 to the spending bill, it must pass as stand-alone legislation and that will be a heavy lift in Cooper’s estimation. “We know this is an election year. We know there are going to be very few opportunities between now and the election to move legislative vehicles.”

So Cooper says the call to action for farmers is to pressure Congress. “We have a broad coalition of support behind a carefully crafted deal. Congress should not let that slip away and and they should do everything they can to wedge that into this appropriations process here at the end of January.”

Because he says immediately opening new markets is the fastest way out of the crisis facing the nation’s farmers and they can’t afford to wait.

What Are We Going to Do With 17 Billion Bu. of Corn: Will it Push Congress to Pass E15?

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:41:53 GMT

USDA’s projection of a record 17-billion-bushel corn crop is turning up the heat on lawmakers to get nationwide, year-round E15 legislation passed in Congress.

Analysis from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) indicates that would boost corn use by approximately 2.4 billion bushels annually and be one of the quickest ways to increase demand and chew through the record pile of corn in the U.S.

Is the Time Finally Right?

The political climate might finally be right to pass year-round E15 legislation. Biofuels leaders, including Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, are optimistic about attaching a bill to the mini-omnibus appropriations bill or the Continuing Resolution (CR) at the end of January.

“We know there’s going to be another CR bill at the end of January to hopefully avoid another shutdown, but the bottom line is we have to get it done,” Cooper says. “I don’t want to say it’s now or never, but the period between now and early 2026 is really our best shot at getting this legislation done.”

Bipartisan Support for E15

Cooper says there’s growing bipartisan support for E15 in Congress and even from the oil industry.

“We had 70 ag and biofuel groups at the state level, at the federal level, that sent a letter on that last week,” Cooper says. “It’s gotten a very good response. We’re hearing a lot more chatter on the Hill today about this being a priority. Senator Grassley’s been talking about this every chance he gets, but we also have Whip Emmer talking about E15.”

He adds that a year ago the biofuels industry was close to having that legislation done and across the goal line.

“We think we’re pretty close again this year,” Cooper says.

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member and Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., is leading efforts in the House co-sponsoring the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb. She reiterated her support at the American Farm Bureau convention in Anaheim, Calif., this week.

“We need more domestic markets in this nation, and so I’m going to be looking for year-round E15, higher blends of ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel,” Craig says. “We have to be thinking about that.”

Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Nebraska’s Deb Fischer, with bipartisan support including Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

“I actually would love to see year-round E15 and some of the work that we could do on that front that, because of the procedural rules, they couldn’t get done in some of the other bills or we couldn’t get done,” Klobuchar says. “I think that would be a really good thing.”

Trump Administration Calls on Congress to Get It Done

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, also speaking at AFBF convention, said the administration supports E15 and last summer used temporary waivers to allow gas retailers to sell E15, but a nationwide fix is needed.

“While the Trump Administration has gone as far as providing E15 waivers, Congress must now do its job to pass year-round nationwide E15 legislation to continue to drive domestic crop demand,” Rollins says.

She adds that ethanol and other biofuels will also get a boost from new, higher RVO blending levels in 2026 and 2027 offered in the Renewable Fuels Standard.

“EPA has also proposed the highest and most aggressive volume obligations RVO proposal in history,” Rollins says.

E15 in California Provides a Boost

Meanwhile, Cooper says the California legislature approved E15 in 2025, and the bill was signed into law last October so that corn demand will show up soon.

“You know, if that state moves entirely to E15, it’s a big, big demand boost for our industry,” Cooper says. “That would be another 500 or 600 million gallons of ethanol; that’s another 200 million bushels of corn grind.”

This and year round E15 would be a critical change and its needed with many farmers looking at cash corn prices under $4 and NCGA projecting $180 per acre net loss for 2026.

USDA Trade Team Returns from Malaysia with a Focus on These Key Ag Products

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:39:24 GMT

As a follow up to the Oct. 26, 2025, trade deal announced by President Donald Trump, the USDA trade team just returned from a recent Trade Reciprocity for U.S. Manufacturers and Producers (TRUMP) mission.

Luke Lindberg, USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, says there were good, productive meetings toward elevating the relationship between the U.S. and Malaysia, which ranks as the 26^th largest ag trade market.

“These TRUMP missions were one of the aspects of [Agriculture] Secretary [Brooke] Rollins’ and my three-point plan to really ramp up U.S. agricultural exports. So, the president’s done a tremendous job of negotiating these new agreements around the world, and our job is to get on the ground with farmers, with U.S. agribusinesses, and start to make deals happen,” Lindberg says. “The analogy I’ve been using is the president is opening the door, and it’s our job to drive a bus through it.”

The trip to Malaysia had a delegation of 16 agribusinesses and trade associations. In recent years, the biggest U.S. agricultural exports to Malaysia have been soybeans, dairy products, cotton, vegetables and nuts.

“The whole barnyard kind of came with us this time around, because one of the things that the U.S. trade representative’s team and we did with USDA and the White House was we actually got Malaysia to agree that the U.S. food system is safe, and that’s in the language of the agreement,” he says.

Of the specific categories he shared, there was progress on many fronts including:

Soybeans — In 2024, Malaysia imported almost 452 metric tons of U.S. soybeans. Lindberg says U.S. leaders met with the largest soy crush facility, and he sees opportunities for growth.
Dairy — In total for 2024, Malaysia imported $118 million in dairy products. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in dairy access and opportunities there, 23% growth this past year for dairy,” Lindberg says.
Ethanol — “We had a great conversation around ethanol opportunities,” Lindberg says. “Malaysia is a regional distributor of fuels, and so working ethanol into the fuel supply chain that can really spread throughout the ASEAN region, a lot of good opportunities out there.”
Beef — “We visited a very successful restaurant group in Malaysia that’s been begging for U.S. beef for a long time,” Lindberg says. “They’ve actually invested in a beef processing plant in the United States to get their beef halal certified so that they’re ready to go for when the actual duties shift and the regulations come into full force.”

Lindberg says a key tenant of the trade deal is to reduce or eliminate all tariffs.

“A lot of our producer groups haven’t been able to compete on a level playing field in Malaysia in the past, and now they have that access and that opportunity,” he explains. “When our groups can compete on a level playing field, I think we win more often than we lose.”

Next steps include a Malaysian delegation visiting Washington, D.C., next week.

“We’re marching forward here with a great opportunity on the horizon. I think it’s progressing nicely,” Lindberg says. “These rapid-response missions are largely driven by building these kind of new opportunities that really didn’t exist yesterday and exist today. In the next couple months, we’ll see full implementation of the deal, and that’ll really be the access-opening opportunity for our producers.”

Looking ahead this year, Lindberg says the USDA trade team is “hyperfocused” on fixing the agricultural trade deficit. With 2026 agribusiness trade missions announced for Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, he highlights time spent in Southeast Asia is a strategy to build trade in a region with growing GDP and positive consumption trends for U.S. agricultural goods.

“It’s going to be a dynamic year for U.S. trade,” Lindberg says. “I keep saying to folks: Trade agreements are great, but sales are the goal.”

Ethanol's Record-Breaking Start to 2026

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 12:50:32 GMT

The first full week of 2026 marked another record for U.S. ethanol production.

Ethanol production in the week ended Jan. 9 hit a record 1.196 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Analysts, on average, had expected production to rise to 1.105 million barrels from 1.098 million barrels the previous week, according to a Bloomberg survey.

The data likely helped corn futures as the March contract bounced 2 ¼ cents after a 26-cent drop the previous two sessions following a USDA crop production update that boosted the crop above the 17 billion bushel threshold.

Ethanol stocks rose to 24.473 million barrels, above the average estimate of 24.126 million barrels and up from 23.652 million barrels the previous week.

USDA on Tuesday estimated ethanol demand at 5.6 billion bushels of corn in the current marketing year. A record crop has served as fodder for farm and biofuel groups as they push for year-round approval of E15, a 15% ethanol blend with gasoline, and clarity on biofuel blending rules and other measures aimed at boosting demand for the crop.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Anaheim, California, earlier this week said it was up to Congress to “do its job and pass nationwide year-round E15 legislation to continue to drive domestic crop demand providing a clear win-win for farmers and consumers.”

Rep. Randy Feenstra, an Iowa Republican, told the Brownfield Ag Network on Tuesday that year-round E15 legislation could be attached to a mini-omnibus appropriations bill. “That’s going to happen next week,” he said. “We’ve got one passing this week, it probably won’t jump on this week. It’s really directed on how the Senate can achieve this, we’re working from the House side. But we’re just trying to find that train that we can jump on and get it done.” Read Pro Farmer’s latest market reports.

Ethanol Blend Rate Tops 11% for First Time

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 12:55:31 GMT

Ethanol accounted for 11.06% of the nation’s gasoline in October, marking the first time in history that the monthly ethanol blend rate has exceeded 11%, the Renewable Fuels Association said Tuesday, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The RFA said the record-high blend rate reflects the growing use of E15 and flex fuels like E85. The trade group also took aim at the notion of a “blend wall” that prevents ethanol from making up more than 10% of the gasoline pool. “The numbers also prove that the fictitious ‘blend wall’ is nothing but an imaginary barrier created by those who oppose American-made renewable fuels produced from American-grown crops,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper.
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As Corn Farmers Face Tight Margins, One Policy Solution Gains Urgency

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:18:41 GMT

Harvest 2025 has wrapped up on Drew DeSutter’s Knox County, Ill., farm, but the work is far from finished. Attention has shifted from yield maps to balance sheets. Like many farmers across the Midwest, DeSutter is now focused on marketing grain in an environment defined by volatile prices, stubbornly high input costs and uncertainty about what comes next.

That unknown is shaping decisions not only for the current crop year, but also for planting intentions in 2026 — at a time when farmers are closely watching Washington policy moves and global markets.

DeSutter says yield variability, particularly in corn, was a key harvest theme in 2025. While overall production was solid, uneven results across fields complicate profitability calculations and marketing strategies. However, many farmers saw record soybean yields, which might have tilted the balance sheets in favor of soybeans.

“I think the jury’s still out, and we’ll see what prices do from this point on,” he says. “But I think if you look at your input prices and the price of corn this fall, versus the price of beans, maybe beans were a little bit more profitable, but it’s just a tight margin environment in both corn [and] soybeans right now.”

White House Announces $12 Billion in One-Time Farm Relief

As farmers work through those margin calculations, a major announcement from the White House is shaping the broader conversation about farm income and risk management. On Dec. 8, President Donald Trump unveiled what the administration describes as one-time bridge payment relief to help farmers facing trade disruptions and rising production costs. The per-acre payment rates are expected to be announced the week of Dec. 22.

Many farmers acknowledge the relief payments could provide short-term stability when disbursed early next year, but others question whether the assistance addresses the deeper structural issues facing agriculture, including high fertilizer prices, rising interest rates and trade uncertainty.

“It definitely feels like that it’s the new norm,” DeSutter says about the current tight margin environment. “Agriculture is cyclical. When I got out of college it was pretty good, then you go through some years that are a little tougher and we seem to always bounce back.”

Still, he says the current downturn feels longer and more persistent than previous cycles.

“Heading into 2026, I think it’s going to be another tight year from a profitability standpoint,” he adds.

Corn Growers Focus on Domestic Demand

For corn farmers, the conversation increasingly centers on demand and how to create new outlets for a crop facing heavy supplies. Corn exports are currently at record levels, according to the latest USDA report, yet prices don’t reflect that monumental demand.

That concern is echoed by national corn grower leaders, who say price pressure is intensifying at the same time production costs remain elevated.

“There’s been a lot of talk lately about soybeans, but corn prices have been down about 10% since the beginning of 2025. It’s a pretty significant drop, especially when you consider how high input prices are,” says Lesly Weber McNitt, vice president of public policy for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

With USDA projecting more than 2 billion bushels of corn carryover, Weber McNitt says farmers are increasingly focused on how that grain will move.

“Export demand has been great, but that value isn’t there,” she says. “Even though our export volumes are record-setting this year, values are down about $1 billion year over year.”

That reality has sharpened NCGA’s focus on boosting domestic demand, particularly through expanded ethanol use.

Year-Round E15 Could Be What The Market is Searching For

One policy solution gaining renewed attention is year-round nationwide E15, which would allow gasoline blended with 15% ethanol to be sold throughout the year. The issue surfaces repeatedly during conversations with farmers and policymakers, including during the White House roundtable last week as the president rolled out the farmer bridge payments.

“Ethanol, you’re working for ethanol trying to get E15 year-round. I think we can have a lot of domestic product used here in the country, and we can keep America first, and you’re good at that, that is who you are,” said Iowa farmer Cordt Holub to the president.

“So E15 is a big deal?” Trump asked.

“E15 is a great deal year-round. Farmers would love you more than anything if we could continue to use domestic product, use the byproducts,” Holub added during the roundtable discussion.

Weber McNitt says it’s no secret E15 offers multiple benefits, extending beyond farm income alone, which is why it aligns strongly with the Trump administration’s agenda.

“It helps farmers. It helps achieve American energy dominance,” she says. “It helps tackle affordability because year-round E15 could help consumers pay about 25¢ less a gallon at the pump.”

Despite bipartisan support, Weber McNitt stresses that action ultimately rests with Congress.

Legislative Hurdles Remain

NCGA supports the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, which would permanently allow year-round E15 sales. While the bill has backing in both chambers, Weber McNitt says progress has stalled.

“Individual bills aren’t really moving, and there isn’t a lot of time left on the legislative calendar,” she says. “We need to find other bills that are likely to pass so that we can hitch a ride on them.”

Asked whether E15 could still be finalized in 2025, Weber McNitt says she remains cautiously optimistic.

“I would like to achieve it in 2025 still,” she says. “My hope is that we can get the E15 bill passed by the end of January.”

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, shares that optimism.

“We think there are still decent odds we can get it passed here in 2025,” Cooper says. “This period between now and early 2026 is really our best shot at getting this legislation done.”

What E15 Could Mean for Corn Demand

According to NCGA data, growth in corn use for ethanol has largely stagnated since 2011. Weber McNitt says removing regulatory barriers to E15 could dramatically change that trajectory.

“For every 1% you raise the national fuel blending rate, you’d grind an additional 470 million or 490 million bushels of corn,” she says. “Once you scale up to that full 15%, we could be looking at additional demand of 2.4 billion bushels, which is just about what USDA is estimating we’ll have left over.”

She says demand growth would happen over time but the potential impact is significant for a sector searching for new outlets.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Back in Knox County, DeSutter says early signs suggest corn acres could remain strong again next year. Favorable harvest conditions allowed for extensive fall fieldwork, which could influence planting decisions.

Despite the financial pressure, DeSutter’s optimism remains intact. He says at some point agriculture will get back to profitability. Until then, he says incremental policy wins could make a meaningful difference.

“If you can get some small victories, whether it’s year-round E15 or less regulations, every dollar per acre helps when you’re in a tight margin environment,” he says.

NCGA Examines Potential Market Impacts of E15

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:03:19 GMT

If Congress passed legislation that allowed for year-round, nationwide access to fuels with 15% ethanol blends, corn use in ethanol could increase by 50% at full implementation, supporting a higher market price for corn and energy stability for Americans, according to a new analysis released by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

NCGA has spent months calling on Congress to pass the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025, which would eliminate an outdated regulation that prevents the sale of fuel with 15% ethanol blends, referred to as E15.

Over the next decade, USDA forecasts corn use in ethanol to stay near the current 5.6-billion-bushel level and near the current share of total corn use. But the trend for corn production, in the U.S. and globally, is expected to continue rising on productivity gains and expanded production area in other nations. Without allowing demand to increase correspondingly, the analysis notes, the increased supply will further depress already below-breakeven market prices.

Corn grower advocates say it is their goal to get E15 legislation across the finish line by year’s end. President Trump has expressed unwavering support for the legislation. -source: NCGA Press Release

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California’s Adoption of E15 is a Bright Spot

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 20:09:24 GMT

California Governor Newsom’s signing his legislature’s E15 bill made the state the last remaining and biggest to allow sales of the higher ethanol blend. Renewable Fuels Association’s Troy Bredenkamp never doubted Newsom would sign the unanimously passed bill saying, “He [Newsome] got on board last year…RFA commissioned a study with UC Berkeley and others, that looked at, what would E15 mean to the California consumer. That study showed a $2.7 billion per year savings to California consumers—almost $200 per household.”

Those numbers reportedly helped fuel Newsom’s signature on the bill. Bredenkamp says California will add almost 600 million gallons of new demand for American ethanol or 200 million bushels of corn. He says he hopes California’s move will give added momentum to year-round E15 legislation in Congress.
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How EPA's Proposal to Exempt Refineries From Blending Biofuels Impacts Farmers

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:30:02 GMT

The EPA’s latest proposal on how they plan to deal with the backlog of Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) could have a major impact on farmers.

With a big crop this year, they need biofuels demand to help use those extra bushels.

However, even as recent as last week, small refiners continued to file for exemptions from the biofuels volumes they are mandated to blend under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

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.

EPA’s SRE Proposal Includes Something Old
EPA’s latest proposal to deal with the backlog of Smaller Refinery Exemptions contains something old and something new.

The good news is EPA is using current methodology to calculate SREs, according to Paul Winters, director of public affairs, Clean Fuels Alliance America.

“They’re looking to protect the market space and preserve the volumes they set for the RFS standard — and that’s a good thing. That’s something we fought for back in 2020 and we’re glad to see that continuing.”

He says EPA’s proposal recognizes the SREs handed out in August have the potential to flood the RIN markets.

“They’re looking to reallocate those volumes and protect future RIN markets to make sure there isn’t a signal sent to the industry to undercut production in future years,” he adds.

A New Twist
However, to accomplish that, Winters says EPA has also offered a new proposal — with a twist.

He explains: “They are proposing to either reallocate 100% of the exemptions that have been handed out to date or 50%.”

The final decision will be based on the volumes of biofuels that will be produced in the future and ensure the volumes EPA is setting for 2026 and 2027 are actually met.

Winters says 100% reallocation is the best option for the biofuels industry, as EPA’s updated dashboard on SREs shows, since August 22, they’ve received 10 new exemption petitions for 2021 through 2024.

“We expect they’re going to continue filing more and more of these exemption petitions. So, EPA needs to adopt the 100% estimate based on what’s been filed so far. Because at the end of the day, that’s not going to represent 100% of all the exemptions that are eventually granted,” he further explains.

This is especially important for farmers because if the exemptions were granted without increased production, it would cut into biofuels volumes for 2026 and 2027.

45 Day Comment Period Underway
Winters says it’s key for farmers to be engaged in the process. EPA is holding a hearing on the rule within 15 days as part of a short 45-day comment period.

Senator Grassley Frustrated with Reallocation Schemes

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:36:56 GMT

Long-time ethanol supporter and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is reportedly in support of EPA’s proposal to fully reallocate 2023-25 renewable fuel blending volumes lost to SREs. But as for a second proposed option to reallocate half of the exempted volumes to 2026 and ’27 RFS requirements, Grassley says, “…every gallon needs to be reallocated, 100-percent.”

EPA has already announced granting dozens of SREs and partial exemptions. Grassley is frustrated, lamenting the push-pull nature of EPA’s RFS policy decisions and announcements, “…and it’s just irritating that we have to deal with these all the time,” said the Senator.

EPA’s latest proposal also allows refiners to buy renewable identification numbers, or RIN credits to make up lost volumes. Grassley complains RINS should not be a substitute for meeting Renewable Volume Obligations.
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Farmers Alarmed: U.S. Nearing Agricultural Economic Crisis — Steps to Reverse Course

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:42:51 GMT

Nearly half (46%) of U.S. farmers believe we are on the brink of a farm crisis, according to a new survey released by the National Corn Growers Association . And 65% are more concerned now about their farm financials than a year ago.

The economic conditions for many sectors in agriculture have been deteriorating for some time. John Newton, executive leader at Terrain, says this is the third or fourth year for many row crop producers to be facing profitability at break-even or below break-even margins.

(National Corn Growers Association 2025 Survey)

He points to three trade-related examples driving challenges in ag sector profitability:

China is out of the soybean market
Canada hasn’t bought any U.S. wine
The tree nut industry is facing pressures

“The whole farm economy is facing challenges maybe outside of the livestock markets,” he says. “We need an above-all approach to improve the farm economy.”

Newton says cash receipts for crop farms (adjusted for inflation) have declined by $71 billion in the last three years, which is the largest amount of all time.

(National Corn Growers Association 2025 Survey)

What Can Change The Trajectory?

The news of the federal reserve lowering interest rates one-quarter of a percent is a welcome update.

“We’ve been waiting on this for some time,” Newton says. “The expectation is we need two more yet this year.”

He goes on to say for the average farmer, while this is positive news and increases some ability to take on more credit affordability moving into the spring, it’s not quite enough to change the dynamics of their total financial outlook. As NCGA reports corn margins are at a loss of $161 per acre for new crop in 2025, many farmers will be looking to take short-term debt and roll into long debt to help navigate the tough economic environment.

“The reality is we still have 10-year treasury notes and nearby treasury notes really tightly bundled together. It makes it difficult to restructure any debt for a farmer or find cost savings. What we need to see is more confidence long term in the economy —widening the spread between nearby treasuries and the 10-year treasury. When we have that, it gives lenders the flexibility to work with farmers to restructure debt and create cost savings in doing so,” Newton says.

As a longer-term domestic demand builder, Newton eyes year-round E15 as a potential boost to the corn farmer’s bottom line. NCGA reports for each 1% increase in the blend rate, the range of corn used is 200 to 400 million bu. of corn.

“While it may not do anything to eat into the 2 billion bu. we’ll have in ending stocks for the new crop, in five to six years, you’ll have the infrastructure for the corn we’ll continue to supply,” Newton says.

As for recent actions by Congress, and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins saying financial aid may come as early as this fall to farmers, Newton says those are signs of how lawmakers and the administration are evaluating what they can do and what tools are in the toolbox.

However, he’s quick to point to the limitations they have.

“Of the $31 billion in the American Relief Act, only $14 billion will go out the door. The One Big Beautiful Bill put $66 billion in farm programs and risk management — but not until October 2026,” Newton says. “You have a gap. Even though congress has responded, it’ll take time for that to hit farms across the country.”

Brazilian Tariff Fuels Ire Among Corn Growers

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 20:03:03 GMT

U.S. corn growers and ethanol producers once enjoyed a level playing field with Brazil. But in 2017, without provocation, Brazil imposed a 20% tariff on U.S. ethanol. The tariff was suspended but was later reinstated at 16%. Then, in early 2024, Brazil increased the tariff to 18%. One of the nation’s top farmers, testifying today before members of a trade panel established by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, praised the Trump administration for investigating Brazil’s trade practices and encouraged quick action to address any wrongdoing.

“Unfortunately, Brazil does not value a level playing field and unfairly penalizes U.S. corn growers,” Illinois farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman Jr. told the panel. “Over the past decade, Brazil has taken targeted trade actions aimed at evaporating current and future demand for U.S. farmers. Brazil was the top market for U.S. ethanol exports by far,” Hartman told the panel. “But as soon as the tariff was reimposed, the market was in freefall decline. And while Brazil was imposing tariffs that resulted in a decline of American exports, Brazilian sugarcane ethanol was being imported into the United States at an increasing rate.”

Hartman suggests the United States should take reciprocal measures if negotiations do not result in Brazil’s elimination of the tariff. -source: NCGA Press Release.
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EPA Decision on Small Refinery Exemptions Good News For Biofuels

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 17:18:47 GMT

The Environmental Protection Agency had a big announcement on Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) on Friday.

The agency is acting on a backlog of more than 175-petitions from 38-small refineries dating all the way back to 2016.

EPA officials says the goal is to get the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program back on track but biofuels industry officials are unclear about how that will work.

SRE Decision a Mixed Bag

EPA granted full SREs on 63 petitions to the Renewable Fuel Standard, and partial exemptions on 77. The agency also denied 28 petitions and deemed 7 ineligible.

Paul Winters, Director of Public Affairs, Clean Fuels Alliance America says the result was a good news, bad news story for the industry.

“The exemptions apply to more than 7 billion RIN gallons from prior years. However, EPA is indicating that it’s only returning RINs for 2023 and 2024, which is about 1 .4 billion RINs. Those RINs would still be valid to meet the 2024 RFS volume requirements.”

Will the 2023 to 2025 SREs be Reallocated?

The biofuels industry exoects multiple refiners to object to the decision. So the question remains: how or if the SREs from 2023 to 25 will be reallocated.

Winters says, “1.4 billion RINs returned to the market is a substantial number, especially for 2024 and 2025 where the Biden administration set volumes for biomass based diesel way below where they should have.”

EPA Proposes New Formula for Reallocating SREs

In addition, EPA has proposed a new formula to reallocate gallons exempted from 2023 and later years.

This means EPA still has 57 total exemption requests pending that will be used in finalizing blending levels for 2026 and 2027.

“So what EPA has indicated is that they are going to propose a rule, a supplement to the 2026 and 2027 volumes and they will reallocate the these small refinery exemptions to other refiners,” he says.

So, while the administration is trying to support the biofuels industry, it’s still negative according to Winters.

“They exempted far more small refineries than anyone thought would have,” he explains.

Timeline Unclear

Winters says EPA will send a proposal to the White House next week for a 30 day review, followed by a comment period and hearing on the new proposal.

Eventually the plan is to add this proposal to, for the new framework or small refinery exemption decisions and add it to the 2026 and 2027 RFS rule.

Winters says CFAA will work with EPA on the re-allocations but his will delay the final 2027 RFS rule past the November 1 deadline — adding more uncertainty.

High Yields, Poor Profits: Corn Farmers Search for New Demand to Drive Prices

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:19:58 GMT

USDA’s record 16.7 billion bushel corn crop estimate in the August WASDE is raising concern among farmers and farm groups — including the National Corn Growers Association.

They’re questioning the accuracy of USDA’s yield and acreage projections and asking for demand solutions to blunt the threat to the livelihood of farmers already facing record-low prices.

Corn Acreage a Double Whammy
Corn profitability was already in the red before the August WASDE.

But the record 16.7 billion bushel corn crop and 2 million additional acres just added insult to injury for Tom Haag, who farms near Eden Valley, Minn.

“When they first had their intentions earlier in June, I thought we were pretty close to where we were. I don’t know where they come up with these extra acres or where they found them,” Haag says.

Illinois and Iowa acreage was unchanged, but between the June Acreage Report and August Farm Service Agency (FSA) certified acreage, states including Kansas, North and South Dakota had 1.2 million more acres.

Some could be silage, but these are fringe states.

Krista Swanson, chief economist with NCGA, says even with record yields, those states can’t lift the national yield average.

“The higher acres are, the less likely we have an extremely high yield because of those fringe acres. I think that certainly comes into play, as maybe challenging ‘Can a yield of this level be hit?’”

Validity in Question
The yield methodology for the August report is also in question since it doesn’t use field data.

Swanson says, “So, what happens when we start to getting into harvest is left to be seen. You could analyze, ‘Well, if a state like Iowa has exceedingly high yields, then you wouldn’t necessarily need that record’. But you come out around 190 if every state achieves their maximum yield of the past five years.”

And the record yield projected for the No. 2 corn producer, Illinois, is debatable with crop ratings at only 63% good-to-excellent — well below last year.

Kent Beadle, Paradigm Futures, says that’s well below last year’s rating, and it has dropped 8% in the last few weeks.

“Right now, the good-to-excellent rating is suggesting an average Illinois crop, and of course USDA gave it a record at 221,” Beadle says.

USDA Lowers Average Corn Price
Swanson says as a result of the record supply, USDA lowered the national average corn price.

“USDA also reduced its projected market year average price for the 2025 crop from $4.20 down to $3.90. That would be the lowest market year average we’ve had since 2019.”

But cash prices are much lower in the country — pushing profitability further in the red for farmers like Haag.

Dec. Corn Profitability

(USDA)

Losing Money at This Price
“Our break-even at the farm is right around $4.25, and cash corn to where we haul today is $3.59,” Haag explains.

And with USDA’s cost of production on corn at $897 an acre, he isn’t the only farmer below break even.

Beadle says, “You know, at the 181-bushel level, we were going to need $4.95 on average for the average farmer to break even. If you add this 7.8 bushels an acre, you still need $4.75 to break even.”

Call to Action on Demand
The bleak outlook has NCGA issuing a call to action from Congress and the Trump administration, including year-round E15 — which could use an estimated 457 million bushels of corn.

“If we could get E15 — and also California to use E15 — that would burn up a lot more bushels,” Haag says. “A lot of states don’t have the infrastructure to burn E15, as their pumps are not set up. We need some adjustments there also from EPA to allow E15 to be used in your normal conditions like unleaded 87 is.”

Swanson says they’re also looking for demand in the export market.

"[We’re] also stressing the importance of continuing to work on some of these new trade frameworks and build international market access as well.”

Unfortunately, if help comes, it may not be in time to stop the bleeding at harvest time.

Lanzajet Production Facility to go Green

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 20:14:28 GMT

According to Bloomberg , the world’s first ethanol to jet fuel production facility expects to begin production in September. Lanzajet’s $200 million Georgia location received government funds to get production up and running and after some delay from equipment issues, the company’s CEO Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Samartzis said in an interview, “"My hope is that by the end of the third quarter we are fully operating. The modifications we made to the equipment that was hindering us, unrelated to the technology itself, should satisfy what we need.”

While the news of the world’s first ethanol to jet fuel facility is exciting, the majority of U.S.-grown corn does not meet low-carbon standards, forcing the company to test the facility using Brazilian sugarcane. The company says it will switch to American-grown feedstocks ‘as soon as possible.’

Once fully operational, the facility is designed to produce 10 million gallons of SAF and renewable diesel per year.
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