Purdue University recently released the first comprehensive study on the impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on the expansion of biofuels production in the U.S. The RFS was established in 2005, and was expanded and extended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Purdue agricultural economist Farzad Taheripour led the study which examined the economic impact of individual drivers separately. “We found that RFS played a critical role in reducing uncertainties in commodity markets, and its most significant impact was to help farmers use their resources more efficiently. With producing more corn and soybeans, over time the farmers were able to bring fallow land that had been unused back to production, and U.S. annual farm incomes increased by $8.3 billion between 2004 and 2011, with an extra additional annual income of $2.3 billion between 2011 and 2016.”

Taheripour collaborated with Harry Baumes, a member of the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy in Washington, D.C., and the late, great Wally Tyner, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue who passed away in 2019.

A paper detailing the team’s work is available in the journal Frontiers in Energy Research.