Did or do you have a summer job on a farm?

Jamie Johansen June 13, 2016

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What would a Bayer Monsanto buyout mean for ag?”

Bayer AG made a $62 billion bid to acquire Monsanto Company recently that was rejected by the board of the St. Louis-based agribusiness, but the door was left open for further negotiations. It seems a small majority say a merger like this would be bad news for agriculture. However, a close second believe it would equal better solutions for farmers and I totally agree.

Here are the poll results:

Better solutions for farmers – 28%
Bad news – 38%
Consolidation is inevitable – 17%
Don’t know – 11%
Don’t care – 6%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, Did/do you have a summer job on a farm?

Summertime on the farm is the busiest time of the years. The added hours of sunlight provide amply time to get as must as possible accomplished. However, added help is usually needed. Hiring teens for those added jobs is common practice nationwide. Some come with some background knowledge about farm work, but most learn by doing. Are you currently spending your summer vacation working on a farm whether it’s your families or not? Or in the past did you have the opportunity take in the life skills farm work provides?

ZimmPoll

@FarmBureau Calls for Strengthening #RFS

Joanna Schroeder June 13, 2016

The Renewable Fuel Standard (#RFS) must continue to operate as it was defined by Congress in 2007 said Randy Caviness during the EPA Hearing in Kansas City, Missouri last Thursday. Caviness serves as a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Issues Advisory Committee on Energy and biofuels, and thus the RFS, are huge priorities for the committee. He also represented the Iowa Farm Bureau with his remarks.

“EPA’s decision not to follow the intent of Congress in the 2007 RFS is highly disappointing to all of agriculture,” said Caviness. “This decision strikes a blow to conventional ethanol production and dampens the prospects for the further development of advanced biofuels.”

Caviness speaks from personal experience about how ethanol benefits farmers, rural economies and consumers. He has farmed for 28 years without energy-intensive tilling and leads initiatives to install wind turbines in Adair and Cass counties in Iowa. “Reducing RFS hurts agriculture and rural communities at a time when the down economy already has many producers in a pinch,” he told the panel of EPA representatives who were on hand to listen to nearly 140 personal stories from ethanol supporters. Only a handful of those testifying were against the RFS.

Caviness added, “Our nation’s farmers can grow more bushels of corn and soybeans on fewer acres to feed and fuel the world. “But if these reduced volumes are finalized, this decision will stall growth and progress in renewable fuels as well as the broader agricultural economy.”

Listen to Caviness’ testimony here: AFBF testimony at EPA hearing

EPA Hearing Photo Album.

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Agribusiness, Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, RFS

‘Fueling Our Future 100’ Funds Available in Iowa

Joanna Schroeder June 13, 2016

Iowa has launched a new program for retailers to assist them in adding infrastructure to sell higher ethanol blends – Fueling Our Future 100. The initiative is a partnership between state government, including collaboration between the Governor’s office, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Transportation, and Iowa Economic Development Authority. There are $400,000 dollars available to retailers to assist with the purchase and installation of blender pumps and underground storage tank infrastructure for higher blends of ethanol such as E15, E30 and E85.

Applications must be received at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s office by 4 p.m. on Monday, June 20, 2016. Pumps and tanks funded through this program are currently required to be operational by December 30, 2016 and continue operations for the intended purpose of dispensing higher blends of ethanol through December 31, 2021.

“Iowa retailers have shown a willingness to invest in infrastructure to deliver renewable fuels and customers have shown they are interested in choosing to increase the amount of clean burning, homegrown renewable fuels they use,” said Iowa Secretary of Ag Bill Northey who announced the funding availability. “Through this program we have supported the installation of more than 200 blender pumps and 24 underground storage tanks and now have some additional funds to add even more.”

Iowa received a $5 million competitive grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership (BIP) program to support the initiative. These funds must be matched by non-federal funds, including $2.5 million from the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program (RFIP). The fueling sites applying for assistance will also be required to provide a minimum of $2.5 million.

biofuels, E15, E85, Ethanol

Congrats to CVEC on 20th Anniversary

Joanna Schroeder June 13, 2016

**Updated story.

Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (CVEC), a cooperative located in Benson, Minnesota, is celebrating its 20th anniversary today. The ethanol facility began production in 1996 producing 50 million-gallons-per-year of ethanol. Today the cooperative has grown to 975 owners and has ownership interest in four other ethanol companies: Guardian Janesville, Guardian Lima, Guardian Hankinson and Frontline BioEnergy LLC — and is a founding owner of Renewable Products Marketing Group. In addition to producing fuel ethanol, CVEC also operates an industrial alcohol company, Glacial Grain Spirits, which makes certified organic alcohol products and Prairie Spirits Vodka. CVEC hosted a luncheon and presentation for its shareholders, employees and industry partners today and also gave tours of its ethanol plant for community members.

“CVEC has been in the ethanol industry 20 years supporting rural America, providing jobs, supporting a clean environment and returning capital and infrastructure to the rural community,” said Chad Friese, CEO of CVEC. “Our 20-year anniversary celebration is an opportunity to share our appreciation for the support we have had over the last 20 years with everyone that has been part of CVEC’s continuing success.”

CVEC is a long-time member company of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). “CVEC has always been a leader, within the industry and the RFA,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “It was one of the first farmer-owned cooperatives to commit to ethanol production well before the ethanol market was fully established. CVEC’s Board shared a vision of value-added agriculture and local economic growth that became a model for others to follow. The company has always been ahead of the curve — adopting new more efficient energy technologies and courageously pursuing new market opportunities like distilled spirits. CVEC was also among the first to begin selling E85 directly to marketers. Over the years, CVEC employees have had important leadership roles within the RFA, including previously chairing RFA’s Technical Committee and former CVEC General Manager Bill Lee chairing the association in 2004–2005. The whole industry has benefited from CVEC’s vision. I congratulate them for these 20 years, and I look forward to the innovations they have in store for us over the next 20!”

The ethanol plant is also a member of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association. “For 20 years, CVEC has played an active role in reducing prices at the pump, giving consumers access to cleaner fuels and reducing our nation’s dependency on foreign oil,” said Tim Rudnicki, executive director at the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

Dale Tolifson, a director at CVEC and CVAC, noted, “The main reason we started the ethanol plant was to add value to our corn, because in West Central Minnesota, our prices were very low. The ethanol plant not only gave us better prices, but it created jobs and put money back into the area with dividends.”

Friese added, “With 975 local members of the cooperative, an amazing and dedicated staff, and great support from our local communities and area farmers, CVEC is very proud to be able to continue these efforts for the next 20 years and beyond.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Emerging Oil Recovery Technology Featured at #CUTC16

Joanna Schroeder June 13, 2016

Corn oil extraction is becoming the norm rather than the exception for U.S. ethanol plants but there is an emerging oil recovery technology that may turn the current processes upside down says Scott Kohl with White Energy. He talked about the future of this oil recovery technology during his presentation on the Biorefining I panel at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) last week, an event that focuses on emerging and new technologies using corn.

Kohl said the dry grind ethanol industry represents about 80 percent of the U.S. capacity today and recovering oil from the process has become financially important for facilities. Approximately 80-85 percent of ethanol plants are recovering oil (corn oil) and this, Kohl noted, raises the plant’s bottom line.

However, one of the more important and interesting developments of late, Kohl said, is the technologies being crossed from traditional oil refining for human cooking oil to distillers oil and the quality of corn oil coming out of ethanol plants that adopt this technology will be substantially higher. Kohl said the oil looks similar to soybean oil in properties for biodiesel type applications, and he believes the raw value of the oil will be 8-10 cents a pound more. This is because the corn oil will be easier to refine into biodiesel than the current corn oil on the market.

In a nutshell, what’s happening, Kohl explained, is the dry grind industry is taking a process from one industry, wet milling, to another industry, dry milling, in an economical fashion. He said there is only one facility that he knows of today using this specific process and that’s Corn Oil One in Iowa – the first of its kind. The biorefinery has been running for a little more than a year and Kohl said the product is performing well. He added that he expects the model to be replicated over time as more data emerges from the early technology adopters.

On another note, Kohl said White Energy is doing extremely well and noted the company is most focused today on producing ever lower carbon renewable fuels.

To learn more about recovering oil and White Energy, listen to Chuck’s interview with Scott Kohl: Interview with Scott Kohl, White Energy

Check out pictures from the conference: 2016 CUTC Photo Album.

Audio, Biodiesel, corn, CUTC, Ethanol

Ethanol Report on EPA Hearing

Cindy Zimmerman June 10, 2016

Ethanol supporters turned out in force this week for a field hearing on EPA’s proposed volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Over 120 witnesses testified in favor of EPA following the rule as passed by Congress by increasing the proposed 2017 requirement for conventional biofuel volumes to the statutory level of 15 billion gallons.

In this report, we hear comments from Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen and others who testified at the hearing, including RFA chairman Randy Doyal, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, and celebrity farmer Chris Soules.

Check out the EPA Hearing Photo Album here.

Listen to the Ethanol Report: Ethanol Report on EPA Hearing

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

IBB’s Kimberly Calls @EPA to Embrace #Biodiesel

Joanna Schroeder June 10, 2016

Executive Director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB), Grant Kimberley, called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to embrace biodiesel’s full potential yesterday when testifying during the EPA hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) 2018 proposed rules for Biomass-Based diesel in Kansas City. Renewable fuel volumes for 2017 are 2 billion gallons and the EPA only proposed an increase in fuel to 2.1 billion gallons in 2018. IBB is calling for final volumes in 2018 to be 2.5 billion gallons.

Several other speakers testified representing Iowa biodiesel plants, in addition to Kimberley who also serves as the director for market development for the Iowa Soybean Association. Iowa is the largest biofuels producer in the country including the largest biodiesel producer. The industry represents more than 3,000 jobs and nearly $345 million in GDP in 2015, while also producing 242 million gallons that year.

“Embracing biodiesel at its full potential is a perfect example of where different goals for the greater good can intersect,” said Kimberley during his testimony. “Not only does biodiesel improve Greenhouse Gas reductions, it also makes us more diversified in our energy supply, and it makes our nation’s critical farm economy stronger. Making farmers stronger makes our country’s food supply stronger…something we would never want to jeopardize.”

Kimberley also noted that Iowa’s biodiesel usage shows that B5 (five percent biodiesel) is a starting point, not a limit.

“Iowa is an example of a state where higher blends of biodiesel are becoming the norm, thanks in part to state policies that encourage petroleum distributors to carry biodiesel blends above B5. Kimberley added, “According to the Iowa Department of Revenue, the average blend last year was about 9 percent biodiesel, and we expect the common blend to be B10 and higher in the next few years in Iowa and other Midwestern states. There is really no such thing as a B5 blend wall.”

Listen to Grant Kimberley’s testimony here: Grant Kimberley, IBB #RFS Testimony

EPA Hearing Photo Album

Coverage of EPA RFS Hearing made possible by

advanced biofuels, Biodiesel, EPA, RFS

ACCF Criticizes #RFS @EPA Hearing

Joanna Schroeder June 10, 2016

Hundreds of biofuel supports were in Kansas City yesterday participating in the EPA’s hearing on the proposed rules for 2017 and 2018 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). [View photos from the EPA hearing here.] Yet not all comments were positive as two representatives from the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) called for the RFS to be overhauled. In tandem with the negative testimony, Americans United for Change (AUFC) released a new report, “ACCF: Big Oil’s Useful Tool,” as a means to expose ACCF’s financial ties to Big Oil as the group becomes more vocal about its criticism of the RFS.

According to AUFC, the two presenters, Christopher Tucker, senior managing director, FTI Consulting, and Matt Dempsey, managing director for FTI Consulting, work for a consulting firm that recently led an aggressive misinformation campaign to discredit environmental groups that outed Exxon Mobil’s decades of climate denial.

Brad Woodhouse, President, Americans United for Change said of the critical testimony from two semi-secret Big Oil flacks, “We do hope ACCF’s chosen surrogates will reveal their close financial ties to Big Oil and not present themselves as objective critics of the RFS while testifying before the EPA. It’s important that the EPA be fully aware of the context of ACCF’s testimony as they have taken over $2 million in Big Oil money and push policies intended to protect the oil industry’s profits at the expense of the environment and consumers.”

Yet AUFC was not the only organization to release a study this week tied to the EPA’s RFS hearing. ACCF also released a report from University of Tennessee professor Dr. Daniel De La Torre Ugarte, entitled, “10 Year Review of Renewable Fuel Standard Impacts to the Environment, The Economy, and Advanced Biofuels Development: An update,” in which he outlines fundamental flaws of the RFS.

Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), testified during the EPA hearing and also participated in a press conference hosted by Fuels America. He said in response to the ACCF study, “This study is nothing more than the same old recycled talking points from ACCF and its Big Oil buddies. Corn ethanol lowers greenhouse gas emissions by 34%, according to DOE’s GREET model. Meantime, the use of ethanol in gasoline in 2015 reduced carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by 41.2 million metric tons. The renewable fuel standard (RFS) has been an unmitigated success, helping to drive down gasoline prices, decrease U.S. reliance on oil imports and increase domestic biofuel production, while providing the lowest cost, cleanest-burning, highest octane additive available to refiners.”

Dinneen added, “But the truth hurts Big Oil, which continues to desperately try to cling to its incumbent marketshare and more than 100-year-old subsidies. They can’t hit back at the truth, so they resort to obfuscation in the hopes that people won’t notice.”

The comment period for the 2017 & 2018 proposed RFS rules ends July 11, 2016. Those interested in submitting comments can get more information here.

Coverage of EPA RFS Hearing made possible by

Americans United for Change, biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, RFA, RFS

#Ethanol Goes Beyond Blend Wall Says @ACEEthanol

Joanna Schroeder June 10, 2016

The so-called blend wall, or the barrier to blending ethanol into more than 10 percent of the fuel supply, is not in fact a barrier, explained Ron Lamberty, senior vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). He spoke these words to EPA representatives in Kansas City yesterday as they heard testimony from more than 100 hundred ethanol advocates about the proposed 2017 rules of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“Today, said Lamberty, “I want to use my time to help the Agency gain confidence that it is not only possible to go beyond 10 percent ethanol, it is already being done.” He noted several representatives of fuel retailers that are selling choice to consumers at the pump through ethanol blends such as E15 and E85.

For example, Lamberty pointed to Petroserve USA who offers E15 and flex fuels in six of their North Dakota convenience stores and their overall ethanol volume was 13.4 percent. He spoke about Bosselman Enterprises who offers higher ethanol blends in eight of their Nebraska location and ethanol makes up 15 percent of their total care and light truck fuel sales in these locations.

Protec is another E85 wholesaler currently supplying 289 stations from Maryland to Texas, with plans to add 300 more utilizing funds from USDA’s Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership. Lamberty explained that about half of Protec’s current stations sell E85 on one island, and it makes up 9-13 percent of total fuel sales at those stations. Newer locations offering flex fuels on multiple islands sell 18-28 percent flex fuels. “That’s up to 32 percent renewable fuel, Lamberty stressed, “and while 9 percent E85 sales may not sound like much, that small amount of E85 boosts the stations’ overall ethanol sales to 17 percent – well beyond any so called E10 ‘blend wall’.”

Lamberty also told the story of ethanol retail success story Bruce Vollan. “At a previous hearing, South Dakota retailer Bruce Vollan told EPA there is no blend wall “Unless petroleum marketers don’t give their customers any choices above 10 percent.” And while oil companies continue to contractually limit sales of blends above 10 percent, half of Bruce’s customers buy the higher ethanol blends he offers, and ethanol makes up more than 25 percent of his total gas volume. Two and a half years ago, Bruce Vollan also told EPA, “The secret to getting over the blend wall . . . is to TRY to get over the blend wall.”

“That has been proven true by a number of retailers, and I encourage EPA to also TRY to get over the blend wall. Stand firm as you have in the past, and enforce the RFS as it was written,” Lamberty concluded.

Click here to read Ron Lamberty’s full testimony.

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Coverage of EPA RFS Hearing made possible by

ACE, Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, RFS

RFA Chair Tells @EPA to ‘Go all the way’

Joanna Schroeder June 10, 2016

Thirty-five year ethanol veteran, advocate, CEO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel and Chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Randy Doyal wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to know that while the renewable fuel volumes for ethanol are set to improve in 2017, the proposed volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) suffer from the same problem as before – the statute does not allow EPA to issue a waiver based on proposed constraints on distribution such as the so-called blend wall.

“If the supply of renewable fuel and RINS is adequate to meet the statutory volume, then the obligated parties are obligated to distribute those volumes to consumers,” said Doyal during his testimony at the EPA hearing this week on the proposed 2017 volume obligations under the RFS. He added that the proposed volumes once again leave obligated parties off the hook in their legal obligation.

Doyal says there is a more than adequate supply of ethanol to meet the demand and what may be the most frustrating thing about the 2017 proposed rules is that at 14.8 billion gallons it is just short of the statutory mandate of 15 billion gallons. “Why not go all the way? Doing so would be faithful to Congressional intent and avoids further litigation,” he said.

Listen to Doyal’s testimony here: RFA Chair Randy Doyal, EPA testimony

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