Farmers Urge Trump to Address ‘Economic Crisis’ Facing Biofuels Industry

September 27, 2019

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by Ken Anderson (Brownfield Ag News) Leaders in the renewable fuels industry say it’s urgent that President Trump fix the demand destruction and “economic crisis” created by RFS waivers. Ron Heck of Perry, Iowa, secretary of the National Biodiesel Board, says there’s no time to wait.

“Many farmers are losing patience with the President,” Heck says. “He has to rein in his EPA right now or there will be political consequences to that, because of the economic damage we’re suffering.”

John Linder of Edison, Ohio, is the incoming first vice president of the National Corn Growers Association.

“President Trump vowed to support the ethanol industry and to fight for the American farmers like no other president has ever fought before,” Linder says. “We need him to keep that promise.”

Kelly Nieuwenhuis of Primghar, Iowa, president of the board of the recently idled Siouxland Energy ethanol plant in northwest Iowa, says the plant’s shutdown has caused a bit of a panic in his area.

“We’ve got farmers that usually brought corn to our plant during harvest, but we’re not taking corn right now,” Nieuwenhuis says. “We’ve got cattle feeders that are using our great feed product and they’re scrambling to find alternative feed sources right now to replace what we were shipping out of our plant.”

Ethanol supporters thought they had an agreement with Trump in mid-September to reallocate biofuels gallons lost to RFS waivers, but two weeks have passed, and the administration has yet to release finals details of the plan.

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At last count, 18 ethanol plants and nine biodiesel facilities have shut down in recent months. READ MORE includes AUDIO

Farmers Desperate for Biofuels Decision: Reallocation of Exempted Gallons Seen as Critical to Biofuels Deal (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Farmer Leaders Call Out EPA for Biofuels Demand Destruction (Energy.AgWired.com; includes AUDIO)

Farmers say waivers are destroying demand (Farm Progress)

Farm industry leaders speak out against SREs (Ethanol Producer)

Iowa ethanol industry warns of economic crisis due to RFS waivers (Radio Iowa)

Farmers say they can't wait any longer for ethanol deal (NTV News)

Frustrated Midwest ethanol leaders renew call for solution to waived ethanol gallons (Iowa Public Radio)

Ethanol demands are down, farmers and producers point to EPA waivers (KTIV)

Iowa renewable energy farmers say Trump's 'political future' hinges on biofuels deal (The Gazette)

Area farmers warn Trump’s 2020 election hangs on ethanol decision (KIWA)

Will Impeachment Inquiry Erase A Biofuel Deal? (Inside Futures)

Iowa's First Biodiesel Plant Shuttered (Wisconsin Ag Connection)

As EPA grants biofuels waivers, Iowa ag braces for impact (Times-Republican)

Trump's impeachment battle could delay biofuels deal: industry sources (Reuters)

O'Rourke: Keep RFS and end refinery waivers (Iowa Public Television; includes VIDEO)

Farmers find another reason to get frustrated with Trump (CNN)

STATE CORN LEADERS URGE TRUMP TO UPHOLD RFS (Brownfield Ag News)

Ethanol Blog: State Corn Grower Leaders Urge Trump to Uphold Commitment to Farmers (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Trump Picked Big Oil Over Big Corn—and Now Farmers Are Pissed (Mother Jones; includes VIDEO)

New Mexico oil and gas industry lobbies President Donald Trump against biofuel expansion (Carlsbad Currents)

Minnesota farmers need D.C. to restore ethanol market (Star Tribune)

EPA should support growth in Renewal Fuel Standard program (Post-Gazette)

Letter: Ethanol supports drive for homegrown energy (Columbus Dispatch)

Guest Opinion: New ethanol rules hurt small farmers (Daily Iowan)

SEN. TINA SMITH WEIGHS IN ON VOLATILE ETHANOL ECONOMICS (KEYC; includes VIDEO)

Trump Impeachment Fight Is Hurting the Market for Biofuel Credits (Bloomberg)

Excerpt from DTN Progressive Farmer: "We need this announcement in the next couple of weeks," said Kelly Nieuwenhuis, Iowa farmer and president of the board of directors for Siouxland Energy. "We're scrambling to raise capital now. The banks are reading the same newspapers everyone else is. They're getting nervous. The banks are squeezing. We need an announcement soon. There's no reason the announcement can't be made in two weeks or less."

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"We've been seeing this coming for a while," Nieuwenhuis said. "We burned through our cash the last few months. When the SREs showed up, profit squeezed. We decided not to run our plant off of a cliff."

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"We've already had nine biodiesel plants closed and others at less capacity," he (Ron Heck) said. "This is real, this isn't just idle complaints. If we don't have local biofuels use, we rely on export markets. It is causing investors to reflect on whether they want to do this in the first place. It is a multi-year effect."

The biodiesel industry also is hamstrung by the expiration of the $1 blenders tax credit.

"Shutdown will continue without a doubt," Heck said. "We are urging him (Trump) to overrule the EPA and restore lost gallons right away. The damage is continuing. Many farmers are losing patience with the president. He needs to rein in his EPA."

The U.S. biodiesel industry has been particularly hard hit by waivers, losing hundreds of millions of gallons of otherwise blended biofuels in an industry that produces just north of 2 billion gallons per year.

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Nieuwenhuis said, "It's his EPA. When he made that call, you can't believe how many upset farmers I was with that day who said they're not voting for him. I think it's his political future to get it fixed and have gallons reallocated or he will not win rural America."

Haack said he believes rural support for Trump will return if the EPA finds a way to reallocate some 4 billion gallons exempted.

"People were pretty concerned and saying we're not going to vote with the president with the caveat that he changes his mind," Haack said. "It is a giveaway to oil companies and they're going to hold it against him unless he changes it."

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"From a farming perspective, with the cost of production this year, there is not a promise of a return," he (John Linder) said, "unless you exceed trend line yield. We've already seen land sales to shore up capital just so operators can remain viable. It further stresses the family unit as a whole. Earnings are required, so without markets, it's hard to manage debt." READ MORE