God Bless America and the American Farmer

Food for thought this Independence Day from former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack:

“America has to understand and appreciate what it has in agriculture.

American consumers walk out of the grocery store with still more money in their pocket and their paychecks and their incomes than virtually anybody else in the world.

That creates great flexibility in our economy directly connected to American agriculture.

It also provides the opportunity for every single one of us who are not farmers to be able to choose alternative opportunities for ourselves and our families.

We have transferred the responsibility of feeding our families to a relatively small percentage of our population called the American farmer.”

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Farming, ZimmComm Announcement

Happy Independence from High Gas Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

A record number of Americans are traveling this week for the July 4th holiday and as we celebrate our nation’s independence, we can also celebrate our independence from high gas prices thanks to ethanol.

According to AAA, a record 39.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more by automobile for Independence Day, five percent more than a year ago. Those drivers will be paying at least 12 percent less for gasoline—or $0.26 per gallon—thanks to ethanol, according to a new analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). In fact, ethanol is expected to reduce household spending on gasoline by $37 billion this year, or $292 per household.

The analysis also shows that if E15 were available nationwide in place of E10, consumers would be saving even more money. The wholesale savings currently attributable to E15 is $0.32 per gallon, or 15 percent lower than E0 gasoline.

“As a record number of travelers hit the roads this holiday, there is no better way to celebrate Independence Day than to fill up with fuel containing American-made ethanol. In addition to saving American families money at the pump, ethanol boosts rural economies and helps increase our energy independence,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen.

U.S. dependence on imported petroleum is falling, thanks in part to booming domestic production of renewable fuels. In 2005, the year the original renewable fuel standard was adopted, America’s net dependence on foreign petroleum peaked at just over 60%. However, by 2017, net petroleum import dependence fell to just 20%, and would have been 27% without the addition of 15.8 billion gallons of domestically produced ethanol to the fuel supply. Last year, ethanol displaced an amount of gasoline refined from 560 million barrels of crude oil—more than the volume imported annually from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Increasing Profit Margins for Ethanol

Ethanol production has become a key market for U.S. corn, but margins are often tight. New technology would allow existing ethanol plants to convert a part of their production into making plant-based chemicals that have higher values, with profits that could be passed along to corn growers.

“We know that ethanol today is a commodity that has been really pressed down with pricing and margins,” said Joaquin Alarcon, President and CEO of Catalyxx. “So, this technology allows a plant to convert part of their production into chemicals that have higher value and provide significant profits related to that.”

Alarcon told participants at the 2018 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference in St. Louis that higher end butanol and other alcohols are examples of fuels that could provide at least $1.00/gallon of additional profit to the ethanol producer. Alarcon said it’s an exciting prospect as these are green, renewable chemicals with a cost of production that is the lowest in the industry. He said a facility could be built onto an existing ethanol plant or as a standalone processor that would transport ethanol from the Midwest.

To learn more, listen to Chuck’s interview here: Interview with Joaquin Alarcon at CUTC18

2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference Photo Album

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Planted Acreage Report Surprises

USDA’s planted acreage report out Friday contained some surprising numbers for the trade.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates 89.6 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2018, down 1 percent from last year, and corn area planted is estimated at 89.1 million acres, also down 1 percent from last year.

All cotton planted area for 2018 is estimated at 13.5 million acres, 7 percent above last year, and all wheat planted area for 2018 is estimated at 47.8 million acres, up 4 percent from last year.

NASS also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report Friday:

• Soybeans stored totaled 1.22 million bushels, up 26 percent from June 1, 2017. On-farm soybean stocks were up 13 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 33 percent.
• Corn stocks totaled 5.31 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were down 3 percent from a year ago, but off-farm stocks were up 7 percent.
• All wheat stored totaled 1.10 billion bushels, down 7 percent from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks were down 32 percent from last year, while off-farm stocks were down 2 percent.
• Durum wheat stored totaled 35.9 million bushels, down 1 percent from June 1, 2017. On-farm stocks of Durum wheat are down 19 percent from June 1, 2017. Off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were up from the previous year by 17 percent from a year ago.

Jack Scoville of The PRICE Futures Group provided commentary for the MGEX Crop Report Conference Call. “A very interesting report – farmers planted a lot more of everything than anybody thought,” said Scoville on the call. “Corn planted area…is well above the average trade guess – really above all trade guesses.”

Listen here: MGEX 6-29-18 Crop report call with commentary from Jack Scoville, PRICE Futures Group

AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio, USDA

Driving Ethanol Podcast on EPA Actions

Cindy Zimmerman

EPA’s proposed rule for 2019 biofuel obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) maintains conventional renewable fuel volumes at 15-billion gallons and increases the advanced biofuel standard by almost 600 million gallons over 2018, which looks good on the surface, but fails to assure that those gallons will actually be blended.

In this edition of the Driving Ethanol podcast, Growth Energy Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley discusses the proposal and EPA’s continued granting of small refinery exemptions.

Growth Energy Driving Ethanol Podcast 6-29-18

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Audio, Driving Ethanol podcast, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy

Ethanol Production Continues Strong

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. ethanol production is continuing at a strong and steady pace, hitting a new four week high for the year, according to the latest Energy Information Administration data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association.

Last week, ethanol production averaged 1.072 million barrels per day (b/d) or 45.02 million gallons daily. Output grew 8,000 b/d over the week before, climbing to a 26-week high. The four-week average for ethanol production lifted to 1.057 million b/d, which is the highest this year, for an annualized rate of 16.20 billion gallons.

Stocks of ethanol were 21.7 million barrels. That is a 0.5% draw down from last week.

There were zero imports recorded for the 29th week in a row.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Growth Energy Reacts to EPA Proposal

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy remains committed to making sure the Renewable Fuel Standard moves forward, despite EPA’s proposed volumes for 2019 that essentially move the program backward.

Growth Energy Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley says EPA’s proposal this week for 15 billion gallons for conventional biofuels in 2019 fails to ensure those gallons will, in fact, be blended. “By neglecting to reallocate gallons that were lost to small refiner waivers, basically EPA is doubling down on another year of an estimated 1.5 billion gallons in destruction of demand,” said Bliley. “What it essentially does is roll us back to a time, probably five years ago, when we were 13.5 billion gallons of blending.”

Bliley comments on the proposal, and to news that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt may have been wrong about the Department of Energy’s role in granting refinery exemptions, in this interview:
Interview with Chris Bliley, Growth Energy, on EPA 2019 RVO proposal

Audio, EPA, Ethanol, Growth Energy, RFS

Corn Growers Winning with Enogen

Cindy Zimmerman

Corn prices are barely at break-even levels right now, so every advantage a grower can get to make a little extra per bushel is well worth it these days.

Steve Stenzel of Hamburg, Iowa has been growing Enogen corn for four seasons now and he says it has worked out very well for him. “We’ve been very happy with the yields and the premium,” said Stenzel during an interview at the recent Iowa 250 NASCAR race presented by Enogen. He provides corn for two different ethanol plants in southwest Iowa. “I like the Enogen product in that farming is providing that enzyme (for the ethanol plant) that otherwise would be brought in commercially from another industry.”


Enogen corn farmers from several states attended the race earlier this month, courtesy of Syngenta, and most are looking at a corn crop right now that is rated as much as 86 percent good to excellent. With the possibility of yet another bin-busting crop, growers are pleased that Enogen corn offers the potential to earn up to a $.40/bu (on average) premium for grain delivered to the ethanol plant. Enogen corn is expected to generate approximately $28.5 million of additional revenue for local growers in 2018 through per-bushel premiums.

Listen to comments from a few growers and seed dealers at the race from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and North Dakota –
Comments from guests at Syngenta Enogen race

Interview with Steve Stenzel, Iowa Enogen corn farmer

NASCAR Xfinity Series Iowa 250 presented by Enogen Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, corn, Enogen, enzymes, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Syngenta

Report Contradicts EPA Chief

Cindy Zimmerman

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and NAFB president Tom Cassidy in April – photo credit Spencer Chase

Yet another revelation in the Environmental Protection Agency small refinery exemption saga came to light this week, thanks to the investigative journalism of Reuters, reporting Tuesday that EPA “consistently ignored recommendations from the Department of Energy (DOE) to reject or limit waivers to oil refiners seeking exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).”

This contradicts what EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been saying for months now in claiming the agency is obligated to give waivers to refiners who meet certain objective criteria. “And oh by the way, DOE is involved in that,” Pruitt said during a meeting with members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in April. “What’s happened historically, that has not worked well, is that DOE and EPA have not been working together collaboratively – we have. We use their data and we make informed decisions based upon their data.”

Listen here: Pruitt defends small refinery exemptions

Pruitt said the same thing when he met with farmers and ethanol producers in the Midwest earlier this month, leaving many now questioning his credibility.

“Administrator Pruitt just finished telling crowds of struggling farmers that the massive increase in EPA handouts wasn’t driven by his loyalty to a few wealthy refiners,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “In fact, those waivers are at odds with everything we hear from the Department of Agriculture, President Trump, and now the Department of Energy.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says, “Administrator Pruitt’s … less than truthful answer to farmers in South Dakota blaming the DOE for requiring EPA to hand out waivers like candy is the last straw. Disagreeing is one thing — lying to cover up something you did that impacts rural families’ livelihoods is another.”

Renewable Fuels Association CEO Bob Dinneen says Pruitt is “ignoring the Department of Energy, just as he’s ignoring the President of the United States – he doesn’t care.”

ACE, Audio, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, RFA, RFS

Ethanol Report on EPA RFS Proposal

Cindy Zimmerman

At one time, the ethanol industry would have been thrilled with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal for 2019 RFS blending requirements, which maintains the 15 billion gallon statutory level for conventional biofuels and increases the levels for advanced biofuels. But that was before EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt started handing out small refinery exemptions like Halloween candy resulting in over 2.5 billion gallons of demand destruction – by EPA’s own admission.

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen says he is especially infuriated because the announcement was delayed on Friday to change language in the proposal “that would have, at least for future small refinery waivers, created a more transparent process by which those gallons would have been reallocated.”

In this Ethanol Report, Dinneen reacts to the proposal, and to a Reuters report that EPA ignored Department of Energy recommendations to limit waivers. Ethanol Report on EPA Proposed 2019 RVOs

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EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA, RFS